Casinos still king in South Africa, but sports betting’s the prince

South Africa’s gambling market continues to be dominated by its land-based casinos, but casinos were the only gaming vertical to post a revenue decline in fiscal 2017.

On Thursday, South Africa’s National Gambling Board (NGB) released its annual report covering the 12 months ending March 31, 2017, in which overall gaming revenue (excluding lotteries) hit R27b (US $1.2b), up 3.8% from fiscal 2016.

Nearly two-thirds (66.4%) of the total was generated by the nation’s land-based casino operators. The casinos earned R17.9b in FY17, down 1.8% from the previous report, which the NGB blamed on a decrease in operating positions in six provinces.

Casinos also claimed 73.2% of all gambling turnover, but the total amount spent at casinos’ slots and tables was also down around 1.2% year-on-year. In fact, casinos were the only gambling vertical to report declines in both turnover and revenue in the most recent fiscal year.