Most gambling warnings are easy to scroll past. A line of small print at the bottom of an advert, a helpline number nobody writes down. In the Free State, the people behind South Africa's responsible gambling programme are trying something more direct. They are going to where people bet and talking to them.
The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF) and the Free State Gambling and Liquor Authority have taken their campaign into local communities and licensed gambling venues. Their teams stop and talk with players about the risks of betting, how to keep it under control, and how to tell a licensed operator from an illegal one.
A market that keeps getting bigger
The timing is not an accident. South Africans are betting more than ever, and most of it now happens on a phone.
National Gambling Board figures, reported by iGaming Afrika, put the industry's turnover at about R1.5 trillion (US$91 billion) in the 2024/25 financial year, up from R1.43 trillion the year before. Turnover is everything that gets staked, including winnings that players bet again, so it is not the same as what people lose. But it shows how much money moves through the system. Betting made up about 75% of it, and most of that was sports betting.
Regulators worry most about people who treat betting as a way to earn money rather than as entertainment. The campaign points to workers, young adults and people who live on social grants as groups under particular financial pressure. Of the problem gamblers surveyed by the foundation, more than 83% said their personal debt had grown.
A helpline under pressure
One number shows how fast things have changed. The National Responsible Gambling Programme's counselling line received 1,013,626 calls in 2024/25, according to the National Gambling Board's annual report. A year earlier it took 140,263.
That is about seven times as many calls, or roughly 2,800 a day. The report says part of the rise came from calls about online betting accounts and other questions for operators, which do not belong on a counselling line and stretched the service. Even so, the jump shows how many more people are now looking for someone to talk to.
Licensed or not, and why it matters to players
A big part of the Free State campaign is helping players spot illegal operators. This matters more than many punters realise. In South Africa, online sports betting is legal only with a bookmaker licensed by a provincial board. Online casino games are not legal at all. A site that shows only a foreign licence has no permission to take bets from South Africans.
Players on illegal sites have no regulator to complain to if something goes wrong, and under the National Gambling Act their winnings can even be forfeited to the state. We explain the rules in full in our guide to whether online betting is legal in South Africa.
Help is free, and it works
The programme behind the campaign does more than hand out leaflets. It offers free and confidential telephone counselling, referrals to treatment professionals, and both outpatient and inpatient treatment for people who need more intensive care. Family members affected by someone else's gambling can use it too.
Players who want a break can also ask a licensed operator for self-exclusion, which blocks them from gambling for a set period while they get help.
The message the teams are taking around the Free State is simple: gambling problems can do serious damage, but people do recover, and nobody has to do it alone.
If gambling is affecting you or someone close to you, call the free 24-hour helpline on 0800 006 008.
Related reading
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Sources
- SiGMA News, 25 October 2026, on the SARGF and FSGLTA campaign
- iGaming Afrika, on National Gambling Board turnover figures for 2024/25
- National Gambling Board, Annual Report 2024/25
Sources last checked on 26 October 2026. Gambling is for adults only (18+).
