The South African betting industry is a very big and and lucrative industry which has generated several billions of Rands over the years, and this has made the betting industry very competitive because local and international bookmakers have realized the potential in the South African betting industry and they have been realizing huge profits. Some of the most popular and successful betting sites in South Africa include Hollywoodbets, World Sports Betting, Bet.co.za and Betxchange among others. In this page, we list and sumarise all of the best betting sites in South Africa to help you choose the best ones. Take a look at the best soccer betting site in South Africa.
What good is choosing a new betting site, if you don’t try and maximise the returns and bonus you get from registering with them. In order to entice new players to register with them, most SA betting sites offer one of three types of bonuses to new players. You can also contact the SA betting sites directly here, or see the maximum soccer payouts from each SA betting site.
Sign Up Bet
A sign up bet is a relatively new offering from the betting sites and is basically a free bet. If you are a new registering customer, they will give you a free bonus amount in your bonus wallet to be used for a single bet on sport. The great thing about these sign up bets is that you typically don’t need to make a deposit in order to receive it and so they are often referred to as No Deposit Bonuses.
FICA Bonus
A FICA bonus is a bonus amount added to your bonus wallet after you have successfully FICA’d your account. In order to bet with a South African betting site, all players need to FICA – this is a requirement from the various gambling boards. You can read more about the FICA Act here. As such, betting sites need to get your to FICA and so they offer a bonus for you to do it. Get all the details on how to FICA.
First Deposit Bonus
A first deposit bonus is one of the most common bonuses offered to new registering customers. They typically take the form of 100% bonus match up to a certain fixed amount. For example deposit R500, and the betting site will match your R500, with R500 in bonus money.
Please keep in mind that with all bonuses, and bonus money, they are typically linked to minimum odds and minimum rollover limits.
Some of the best sign up bonuses are from Hollywoodbets (R25), Betway (R25), GBets (R25) and Supabets (R50). These are the no deposit bonuses. For deposit bonuses, we recommend Sportingbet.
We have a handy list of FICA and sign up bonuses here.
When trying trying to determine which is the best betting site in South Africa for you, there are a few aspects you should consider.
1. Ease of Registrations
Betting sites need to make it easy as possible to register with them. Although all SA betting sites need to meet strict KYC requirements they need to do so in a way that is seamless for the user. Customers should be able to register easily over mobile and the betting sites should only request that info that absolutely require.
2. Multiple deposit and withdrawal options
Customers should be able to deposit in any way that want. This means that betting sites need to offer multiple deposit methods including vouchers, bank transfers, instant EFT options, credit cards etc. If they have a retail presence, then let custoers deposit there as well. The same goes for withdrawals. They need to be instant and as many options available as possible.
3. Top notch sign up or welcome bonuses
If betting sites in South Africa want to attract new customers then they need to entice them with better offers. Initially these will include offering better sign up bonuses and first deposit bonuses. However over time, will include offering frequent deposit bonuses and promotions.
4. Wide range of sports and markets
Yes soccer betting will always be king in South Africa, but players also like to bet on other sports and other products. Betting sites need to ensure they have the full suite of sports as well as new betting products like Jika, instant slots, and live casino games.
5. Live betting
Live soccer betting is one of the most popular ways that players bet. All betting sites need to offer live in-play soccer betting and offer as many markets as possible.
6. Great mobile experience
As players migrate to betting almost exlcusively on mobile, the bookmakers in South Africa need to ensure that they offer the best mobile betting experiece. The sites need to be light on data load super fast and be very easy to navigate.
Hollywoodbets is probably the most popular betting site in South Africa with several betting shops scattered all over South Africa and a great online platform which hosts millions of punters daily. Hollywoodbets are a very successful bookmaker in South Africa because they offer South African punters with a service that is tailor made for South Africans, unlike foreign bookmakers. The bookmakers offers a wide range of sports but major emphasis is placed on the popular sports among South Africans which are Soccer betting, Rugby and Cricket and you will find that most promotions are mostly centred around these sports. Additionally, Hollywoodbets also offers Betgames, Jika Sports, Lucky Numbers and Esports so there is a lot of betting opportunities.
Hollywoodbets have recently created a new beautiful website which is very responsive and is far better than the old site which is currently still in use. Currently Hollywoodbets has a R25 Sign-up Bonus for new clients and a lot of promotions for existing clients.
See our dedicated page on Hollywoodbets
Betway is an established bookmaker internationally, and now they also operate in South Africa. Betway South Africa is very popular due to the variety of betting products they offer to their valued customers and very few bookmakers can compete with Betway in this regard. Currently Betway is offering Sport Betting, Live Games, Jika Sports, Betgames, Lucky Numbers and ESports, this great line up of betting products ensures that there is always something to bet at all times especially considering the fact that virtual sports are available 24/7 giving punters a plethora of betting opportunities. Betway South Africa offers a wide range of sports like Soccer, Tennis, Cricket, Rugby, Football, Chess, Darts, Handball, Baseball among other popular sports. Currently the bookmaker has a R25 Sign Up bonus which sees new customers getting R25 into their betting account.
Can’t decide between these 2 sites? Read our article about Betway vs Hollywoodbets
Sunbet is an online South African bookmaker which operates legally in South Africa having been licensed by the Western Cape Gambling & Racing Board. Sunbet currently offers sports betting, horse racing, luckynumbers, and more recently esports which is proving to be an excellent addition because it is at the very top of the popular list on the Sunbet website. In total the bookmaker offers 29 sporting disciplines to bet on including politics which is regarded as sport by the bookmaker, maybe that is why people say that ‘politics is a dirty game’. The Sunbet bookmaker has a well designed desktop and mobile site which is user friendly and very easy to navigate, they also have a mobile app for both Android and IOS which is also easy to navigate. Sunbet South Africa has a very good 100% First Deposit Bonus where you will receive a 100% Deposit Bonus of up to R1000 on your very first deposit. We list all deposit bonuses here. See our Sunbet review
Sportingbet is a popular betting site in South Africa and are one of the largest and most well supported online bookmakers in South Africa. The popularity of this betting site stems from the fact that it offers a wide range of betting activities on their platform including Sports Betting, Esports, Betgames and their very own their own Sportingbet Roulette game. Sportingbet has a well designed and responsive website which has a white and blue colour scheme and the bookmaker made a commendable effort to make all the necessary links visible on the homepage. They also have an app which is well designed and low on data. Sportingbet has a 100% Deposit bonus of up to R2000 for new clients. on their first deposit, great for those looking to get a few more bucks for their first few bets. Read our review of Sportingbet South Africa.
World Sports Betting is an experienced South African betting site which was formed about 2 decades ago in the year 2002 and they are up there with the best betting sites in South Africa. World Sports Betting offers more than 250 000 pre-match betting events every month, at least 200,000 live in-play markets and 500 lotto draws, not many bookmakers can boast such impressive statistics. WSB’s betting products are listed on the homepage’s top menu in the form of sports, horse racing, in-play, lotto, betgames, live games and Jika Sports, they also offer Luckynumbers and Casino betting to their punters. The bookmaker has a great online betting platform with a website which is very well designed and also highly responsive, the website has great features like search, ticket search, live chat among other great features which make the betting process easy. World Sports Betting has a First Deposit 100% Bonus Offer up to R10,000 together with a FICA promotion where a customer will receive a Free Bet voucher of R100. Find WSB Soccer Fixtures
The betting site has been launched recently but the company behind the creation of PalaceBet has a wealth of experience in the betting industry having been formed over 2 decades ago. PalaceBet is a sports book and live games platform which operates under the betting licence issued to them by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board (WCGRB).
GG Gaming is a well known legal bookmaker in South Africa which is based in Cape Town and is licensed by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. They are one of the new betting sites in South Africa. The bookmaker is popular because it offers a wide range of betting products to punters on its betting platform. Currently GG Gaming is offering sports betting, esports, jika sports, horse racing and luckynumbers. Some of the sports available for betting on this platform are soccer, tennis, cricket, rugby, baseball, volleyball, basketball, netball, chess, handball among other sports. Currently they do not offer Casino but their customer support team (which is very helpful) said that plans to include Casino are in place. The bookmaker has a beautiful responsive website which is user friendly and punters can easily bet on any device. GG Gaming has a wide range of promotions for new and existing clients including a 100% First Deposit Bonus for new clients up to R3000.
BetOlimp is an international bookmaker which operates legally in South Africa under the license of the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. The bookmaker is not yet a household name in betting circles but they have loyal clients who enjoy betting with them because of the number of betting products they offer sports betting, live betting, lucky numbers , betgames and esports, the sports which are currently on offer on their website are Rugby, Horse Racing, American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Cycling and Soccer. BetOlimp has a clean and user-friendly website which can be easily navigate by both new and seasoned punters, the site is also very responsive making it easy for punters to bet on any device of their choice. Additionally, the bookmaker has IOS and Android mobile apps which can be downloaded from the Apple Store and Google Play Store respectively. Betolimp currently has a R3000 deposit match offer for new customers.
Gbets is an SA Betting site which is operating legally as it is licensed and regulated by the Western Cape Gambling & Racing Board. The bookmaker offers more than 20 sports for betting including Soccer, Rugby Union, Cricket, Tennis, Golf, Horse Racing, American Football, Athletics, Australian Rules, Baseball, Basketball. Boxing , Cycling and Darts among other sports. The other betting products offered by Gbets include Jika Sports, Live Games, Esports, Betgames, Lucky Numbers and Horse Racing, surely this is an impressive lineup of betting products. The bookmaker has a beautiful and clean website which is very easy to navigate for punters, Gbets also has an android mobile app which is beautifully designed and uses less data. What is impressive about Gbets is the fact that they make use of a number payment gateways like OTT Voucher, 1 Voucher, OZOW, EFT, Mastercard and VISA. The bookmaker has a 100% Deposit bonus of up to R1000. Read our review of Gbets
Playabets is a bookmaker which operates in South Africa legally having been licensed by multiple provinces in South Africa. The bookmaker focuses on a number of betting products like sports betting, keno and Lucky Numbers, ESports and Betgames, this is an attempt to try and cater for the betting needs of every punter because people prefer to bet on different products. The bookmaker offers various sports like cricket, rugby, baseball, volleyball, basketball, netball, chess, handball amongst other sports. Playabets have over 1000 betting markets on sports daily and they have some of the best odds in the betting industry today. Playabets have a fully responsive website, which makes it very easy for you to bet on any devise of your choice be it a smartphone or a tablet. Playabets also has an impressive mobile app which ranks among the best in the South Africa betting industry, you can download the apps from the Apple Store and Google Play Store. The bookmaker surely knows how to welcome new clients because they have a total of three registration bonuses namely R25 BONUS BET where a customer will get a R25 Bonus Bet for registering, a 100 SIGN-UP BONUS of up to R10 000 for all new customers and a REFER A FRIEND promotion.
Playbet is an online bookmaker which operates in South Africa and is licensed by the Gauteng Gambling Board. People often confuse this bookmaker with Playabets but these two have no links whatever in fact Playbet is owned by Playbet (Pty) Ltd. Playbet offers quite a number of betting products like Live In Play, Lotto, Horseracing and Betgames. They still haven’t tapped into the into the virtual sports and esports market as of yet. Sports offered by the bookmaker are Cricket, Soccer, Rugby, Horse Racing, American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Cycling and Darts amongst other sports and they have very competitive odds and multiple betting markets. The bookmaker has a great online platform which is very responsive, the bookmaker replaced their former website with a new one and they did a very good job. Playbet does not have a Deposit or FICA bonuses as of yet.
Bet.co.za is a local South African bookmaker which was launched a decade ago in 2010 and has grown to become one of South Africa’s top sports betting companies with a very large customer base. Bet.co.za is licensed and regulated by the Western Cape Gambling & Racing Board. The bookmaker offers several sports including Soccer, Tennis, Rugby, Cricket, Basketball, Golf, Horse racing and American football amongst other sports. The bookmaker does not only offer sports betting, they also offer Lucky Numbers, Bet Games and Horse Racing so there is quite a wide range of betting activity on this platform. Their online platform is Bet.co.za is powered by Bet Tech Gaming software, which is a Cape Town based company offering betting products to a number of bookmakers. The new Bet.co.za website is arguably the best in South Africa at the moment, it is sleek, smart and very responsive such that punters can easy bet on their smartphones and tablet devices. Punters can also download the Android and IOS mobile apps which uses less data and this can be very crucial when placing live bets. The bookmaker has a 100% welcome deposit bonus of up to R1000 and a lot of other promotions for existing clients.
Supabets is an African bookmaker which was launched in South Africa over a decade ago and has now expanded their services to a number of African countries. In South Africa, the bookmaker is licensed by the Gauteng Gambling Board (GGB) which makes it a legitimate bookmaker. Supabets offers a wide range of sporting disciplines like Baseball, Aussie rules, Basketball, Boxing, Cricket, Darts, Floorball and soccer amongst other sports. The bookmaker also offers Supa Numbers, Jika Sports, Simulated Reality Sports and Supa Racing in addition to the sports. The Supabets website is beautiful and easy to navigate for anyone who would like to bet on the Supabets online platform. The website has a distinct black background and uses a black and red colour scheme. The website has some useful features like coupon check, betslip amongst other great features. The bookmaker offers quite a number of promotions including a R50 SIGN UP BONUS and a R100% First Deposit bonus of up to R10,000. See our review of Supabets
Marshalls World Sports Betting is one of the most popular South African bookmakers which has been around for about 50 years now offering a wide range of betting products like Horse Racing, Sports, Betgames, Esports and Lucky Numbers. There is quite a number of sports on the World of Sports platform Soccer, Tennis, Cricket, Netball, Baseball, Basketball, Rugby, Chess, Watersports, Handball, Ice Hockey, Darts, Boxing and many other sports. Punters can access the Marshall’s World of Sport from their online platform https://www.worldofsport.co.za/ and this is an excellent desktop site which is highly responsive allowing punters to bet on any device. Marshalls World Sports Betting has quite a huge number of markets on all the sports they are currently offering and they have competitive odds. The bookmaker has a Sign Up Bonus of a R30 Free Bet and a R200 First Deposit match of up to R200 for the new clients, Existing clients can also benefit from an esports promotion where they can win a PS4.
BetXchange is a seasoned betting site which has been around for 32 years now having been founded in 1988 and launched their online platform close to 2 decades ago in the year 2003, the bookmaker has withstood the test of time and they have managed to stay relevant in the betting industry due to the fact they keep on evolving and offering the latest betting products to their punters. Initially BetXchange was very well known for horse racing but they expanded their services and are now offering sports betting on different sports like American football, Aussie rules, baseball, basketball, boxing, cricket, cycling, darts, futsal, golf and many more sports. They also offer live in play , Esports, Betgames and Lotto which makes them a very good bookmaker. The Betxchange website is very impressive with a distinct black, yellow and and blue colour scheme and a layout that is quite different from other bookmakers. The Betxchange online betting platform is very responsive and the punters will navigate the website on both the Desktop version and the Mobile version. The bookmaker also has an app which has a sleek design and uses less data. See all Betxchange soccer fixtures here, or our Betxchange review.
SportPesa is a new betting site operating in South Africa but was launched in Kenya where it is no longer operational after a number of bookmakers were barred from operating in Kenya due to tax issues. SportPesa offers a wide range of sports including cricket, tennis, volleyball, handball and soccer. Soccer is the bookmaker’s main betting sport due to the fact that it is a very popular sport amongst punters. The Sportspesa online platform is very impressive with a user-friendly and responsive website which allows punters to bet on the go, the bookmaker has a mobile-optimized web app that automatically loads when a customer visits the website from their handheld device. Sportspesa does not have any Sign Up or FICA bonus , in fact it does not seem like they have any promotions at the moment. See our review of Sportpesa South Africa.
10bet is an international bookmaker which operates in a number of countries worldwide and they are always expanding their services to new countries. The bookmaker has yet to launch their services in South Africa but indications are that the bookmaker might soon be launching their services in South Africa. See 10bet South Africa
Spotonbets is a bookmaker for the future and is set to be launched in South Africa before the end of this year. Spotonbets has already acquired its betting license as it is licensed by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board under bookmaker license number 10185786-001. According to the information on their website, the SA Betting site is backed by a world-class platform that is already recognized in Europe and the Americas and this should be a good thing because if a bookmaker is an online bookmaker, then the online platform has to be great.
Yes, it definitely is legal. Sports betting online has been legal in South Africa for decades, but only recently has it been ok to start betting on casino type games. All betting sites in South Africa need to be licensed by a provincial gambling board.
It really could not be easier. Betting sites want to make it as easy as possible to register with them, and so they work hard to do just that. You simply go to any of the betting sites we have listed above. Go to their registration page and complete the details. You will then need to either upload or email your FICA documents to them, and finally make your first deposit.