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Responsible Gambling

National Responsible Gambling Programme: free, confidential counselling, 24 hours a day.
Toll-free: 0800 006 008
WhatsApp or SMS: 076 675 0710

OddsBash compares prices. It does not encourage betting. Betting is a paid entertainment product with a built-in cost, and that cost is the margin we measure and publish. No price on this site is a prediction, and nothing here improves your chances of winning.

The Rules That Protect You

• You must be 18 or older to gamble in South Africa. It’s the law.
• Only bet with licensed South African betting sites. Every betting site listed here holds a provincial licence.
• Bet only money you can afford to lose, and decide the amount before you start.

Warning Signs

Gambling can turn from entertainment into harm gradually, and it can happen to anyone. Signs worth paying attention to, in yourself or someone close to you:

• You spend more money or more time betting than you planned to.
• You bet again to try to win back money you’ve already lost.
• Betting money is coming out of rent, food, or debt repayments.
• Betting is crowding out time with family, friends, or work.
• You hide how much you bet, or feel you’d need to lie about it.
• You feel irritable or anxious when you try to cut back or stop.

If several of these sound familiar, the NRGP runs a free self-assessment based on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index: responsiblegambling.org.za/self-assessment-tool.

Self-Exclusion

Self-exclusion means asking to be shut out of gambling for a set period. Once it’s processed, licensed operators have to turn you away until the period ends and you’re reinstated. In South Africa there are two routes:

• Through your provincial gambling board. The Gauteng Gambling Board’s process, for example, excludes you for a minimum of six months; reinstatement needs proof of at least four NRGP counselling sessions, and the board has up to 30 days to process it.
• Directly with any betting site’s own compliance or security team, who can action an exclusion on that operator’s account.

The National Gambling Board keeps the national register of excluded persons, but applications go through your provincial board or a betting site directly, not the Board itself. Counselling during an exclusion period is free through the NRGP. Published guidance describes this process in general terms that don’t clearly distinguish land-based premises from online betting accounts, so if you bet online, ask your betting site’s support team to confirm your exclusion covers your account too.

Other Support

Gamblers Anonymous South Africa runs a 12-step peer support programme, open to anyone who wants to stop gambling, with no religious requirement to take part. In-person meetings run in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape; a Zoom meeting runs weekly for anywhere else. Hotlines run daily, 8am to 9pm:

• Gauteng: 060 624 7140 or 078 661 9857
• KwaZulu-Natal: 083 783 5715
• Western Cape: 079 343 5283 or 079 368 4477
• Email: [email protected]