Rise of online gambling: How Mpumalanga leads provinces benefiting from revenue

Online gambling has taken off in a big way in South Africa, and we're confronted with betting and gaming adverts just about wherever we look.

Aside from factors like the rise in technology facilitating this, South Africa's provinces also have a role to play, writes journalist Larry Claasen.

In a piece for Financial Mail, Claasen highlights how Mpumalanga in particular has exploited online betting.

In conversation with Stephen Grootes, he points out that gambling is a space controlled by provinces, in terms of our Constitution.

"National government ministers in SA do have real power... but not when it comes to gambling, where provinces have control."

Larry Claasen, Journalis

"They've used that control to generate taxes for themselves and grow the industry."

Larry Claasen, Journalist

While provinces have managed to benefit from gambling in this way, he doesn't know that they've considered what kind of social problems they're causing along the way, he remarks.

Some gambling authorities are clearly not happy with how Mpumalanga and also the Western Cape’s dominance of online gambling has swallowed up gaming revenue, Claasen writes.

In Gauteng now, for instance, the administration is busy developing legislation to impose a tax on these online gambling companies.

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the interview, and click here to read Claasen's in-depth article