National Gambling Board Annual Report 2025/26: The Player's Summary

The market in the Board's own figures

The National Gambling Board (NGB) report covers its financial year from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. It says that "gross gambling revenue (GGR) had risen to R84.5 billion, representing a 13.4% year-on-year increase." Gross gambling revenue is, broadly, what operators keep after paying out winnings.

Betting is now most of it: "The betting sector's market share expanded to 74% of total revenue (R62.2 billion)", up from 70% the year before, after growth of 19.6% from R52.0 billion. Casinos fell to 19% and limited payout machines to 5%, with bingo at 2%. By province, Mpumalanga had the largest share of revenue (34%), followed by the Western Cape (29%). Gambling taxes and levies came to R6.4 billion. The report notes that its figures for Gauteng are provisional and unaudited.

Online gambling without a South African licence 📜

The report counts "continued illegal online gambling" among the year's key challenges. It says that, to date, "twenty-seven (27) identified illegal gambling websites have been restricted from being accessed by South African users", and that the lack of a blocking system is still a gap: "The absence of a system to block illegal online gambling remains a challenge for the NGB in addressing offshore illegal online gambling websites offering gambling illegally to South African citizens. The NGB has begun to consider adopting such a system".

It also reports that during the year about R775,000, "identified as proceeds from unlawful gambling activities, was, by order of the High Court, forfeited to the State." The report explains the process: winnings that are withheld and passed to the NGB are investigated, and if they come from legal gambling, "the funds are returned to the punter".

For a player this is the practical point: a dispute with a site that holds no South African licence does not reach a South African regulator. Every operator review on this site gives the licence the brand states, and says plainly when a brand is not licensed by a South African board; you can also check a licence yourself.

Self-exclusion and the national register 🛟

The third challenge the report names is "the inoperative status of the National Self-Exclusion Register".

Self-exclusion itself is available. In its statement for Africa Safer Gambling Week (7 September 2026) the NGB wrote that a person may request it through a licensed operator, a provincial licensing authority or the NGB. The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation runs the free helpline 0800 006 008; our responsible gambling page lists the other ways to get help and to set limits.