Yes. Despite the Supreme Court ruling against Piggs Peak in 2011, a number of online casino operators continue to target the South African market. Whether directly, or indirectly, these operators successfully offer Rand-based online gambling. This website’s survey of online casino South Africa establishments indicated that most are quite happy to provide gaming services regardless of an individual gambler’s residential status – they need only meet their license country’s requirements to legally play. The onus is on the individual player to ensure that their own activities are legal where they are based.

The difficulty in regulating and policing online gambling on the internet has allowed many international online casino operators to cash-in on South Africa. Further, they are showing no signs of easing up on their activities as by all counts of profitability, the South African casino market produces amongst the highest value players worldwide. Below are three categories of South African online casino, each of which has a directory of online gaming establishments under them:

History of Online Casino South Africa

Online casinos are software programs or web-based applications that allow users to participate in games of chance in a virtual environment. The games can be for fun (using some form of virtual currency) or for real money.

With the likes of 888 Casino, Betfair, Bet365, and 32Red sponsoring major sports teams, online casinos seem to be ubiquitous these days. This is less the case in South Africa, but many still know the major brands like Silver Sands Casino from the days when they had celebrities like Dolph Lundgren strutting his stuff and marketing the casino on television.

Easier access to the internet worldwide has made online gambling more prevalent but it is interesting to note that the history of online gambling, particularly of the online casino South Africa phenomenon is very young. In fact, the first online casino was launched around 1995, in the still early days of internet commercialization. Regulation in those days was sparse internationally although many countries in the West caught on quickly and amended their national gambling acts to include online activities. The key driver for this change was tax revenue – in a regulated industry, governments have better control and the legitimacy of the casino operations is managed through rigorous licensing processes.

Unfortunately, South Africa has been left quite far behind in the legislative race. Not only does the government lose out on much needed tax revenue from South African online casinos annually, they also appear unable to enforce the gambling laws that they do have.

When online casinos started, most of the players that arrived on them were those that were tech-savvy and already used to gambling in land-based casinos. The market has since developed substantially as the internet was made more user-friendly and accessible with web-based browsing and cheaper broadband access. Nowadays, gambling on South African online casinos serves as a convenient alternative to land-based casinos for many who prefer to gamble in the comfort of their own homes, or whilst on the move.

Future of Online Casino South Africa

Web-based online casino applications are constantly progressing in terms of security, user experience, as well as usability. In fact, there are already online casinos that have bridged the gap between land-based casinos and the online world by providing video feeds of live dealers. A similar situation exists in online poker rooms where players create a virtual persona to interact with the other players, making the experience more real.

No discussion of non-land-based casinos would be complete if one does not cover the topic of mobile casinos. This is especially true with the proliferation of mobile devices and the enormous uptake of internet-based applications on them. Constraints such as screen-size and processing power have already become largely irrelevant as a more practical application of Moore’s law takes hold.

Responsive online casino design was just the first step in accommodating mobile devices and this has already evolved into apps being built that make the best use of the smaller screen real estate. In fact, many international online casino operators have built sites specifically tailored to mobiles and tablets. So, if you have an iPhone, iPad, or any other smartphone or tablet device, and you’re interesting in gambling on the move then be sure to check out our Mobile Casino South Africa page for more details and the latest offers too.

Related articles to Online Casino South Africa:

1. If you’re keen on playing for fun, and are new to the online gambling world, check out our free, detailed How To Gamble Online Guides.
2. You can find more details on the history and current legal status of South African online gambling on the Online Casino South Africa Legal, or Not? blog post.

We hope you found this article on South African online casinos useful, if so please consider signing up for our newsletter that contains the latest news and online casino special offers. You can subscribe here. If you’re legally eligible to play on any of the options presented on this site, then South Africa Casino® wishes you great fortune.