December 11, 2025

Is SA’s New 20% Online Gambling Tax About to Eat Your Bonus?

South Africa’s National Treasury has dropped a bomb on the betting world: a draft plan to slap a 20% national tax on online gambling winnings kept by operators (their gross gambling revenue, or GGR). The industry is furious, regulators are frowning, and you’re probably wondering:

“Okay, but does this mean my welcome bonus, cashback, and odds are about to get wrecked?”

Short answer: this absolutely matters to you as a player – especially if you love betting or spinning the reels online.

Let’s break it down in plain gambler-speak.

Treasury’s Game Plan, Explained

Treasury’s proposal is pretty simple on paper, brutal in practice:

It wants to charge a 20% national tax on GGR from all online gambling – sports betting, horse racing, casino-style games, interactive gambling, everything.
GGR is the money staked minus the winnings paid back to players.
This 20% national tax would sit on top of the taxes operators already pay to provinces (roughly 6–9% for betting, 10–15% for casinos).

They even give a simple example:

Players bet R100 million in a month
The site pays back R90 million in winnings
GGR = R10 million

Under the proposal, the operator would owe around:

R2 million in national tax (20% of GGR)
Plus roughly R0.6–R0.9 million in provincial tax

Total: somewhere around R2.6–R2.9 million in tax on that R10 million GGR.

On top of that, licensed operators also deal with 15% VAT, which already pushes their effective tax load close to the high teens in percentage terms. So Treasury is basically saying:

“Nice online gambling revenue you’ve got there. Be a shame if we doubled the tax on it.”

Why the big brands are freaking out

The loudest shout so far comes from Sun International (owners of Sun City and Sunbet):

They say this could make South Africa one of the highest-taxed gambling markets in the world, especially because South Africa is unusual in also charging VAT on gambling.
Unlike normal businesses, casinos and bookies can’t just increase the “price” of what they sell – a spin is a spin, a bet is a bet. They’re limited in how much of the extra tax can be passed on to you.

Sunbet alone:

Paid about R65 million in gaming taxes in the first half of 2025
Under the new system, they estimate they’d have been on the hook for roughly an extra R275 million in that same six-month period.

That’s not “tighten the belt” money – that’s “rip up the bonus budget” money.

The South African Bookmakers’ Association is also unhappy. With provincial tax plus VAT, licensed online bookmakers say they already pay an effective tax rate in the high teens on their GGR. Adding another 20% on top is basically a sledgehammer to the legal market.

Okay, but what does this mean for YOUR gameplay?

If this tax goes through as proposed, operators will have three main levers to pull.

Cut back on promos and bonuses

Expect to see things like:

Smaller welcome offers
Less generous reload bonuses
Fewer free spins and cashback deals

The “get R2,000 bonus on a R200 deposit” type offers could quietly shrink, or the same headline might mask a worse deal underneath.

Make the fine print nastier

If they don’t want to shrink the bonus size, they can tighten the terms instead:

Higher wagering requirements
Shorter expiry times
More game restrictions

So the promo still looks sexy on the banner, but it becomes harder for you to actually turn it into withdrawable cash.

Tighten margins on odds and games

Where regulators allow it, they can:

Shave sports odds slightly
Adjust return-to-player (RTP) on some games

You might not notice it spin-by-spin, but over time the value you get per rand deposited could take a hit.

The scary part: pushing players to illegal offshore sites

Here’s where it really starts to matter for ordinary players.

Experts warn that punishing legal operators too hard can actually boost the illegal market. When licensed brands are squeezed:

They cut bonuses
They offer less attractive odds
They tighten responsible gambling tools

Meanwhile, offshore sites that ignore South African law can swoop in with:

Big “no limit” promos
Loose or non-existent KYC
Flashy offers with minimal oversight

That might look tempting if you’re bonus-hunting… but if an unlicensed offshore site refuses to pay your winnings, there’s no South African regulator to complain to. You’re basically on your own.

So a tax that’s supposed to support the system and help address gambling harm might end up pushing more players into the wild west, where there’s less protection and more risk.

And then there’s the weird bit: taxing illegal gambling

Another spicy part of the proposal is that Treasury wants to tax both licensed and unlicensed online gambling.

That raises an awkward question: if the state is happy to collect tax from operators that aren’t actually licensed locally, does that not look a bit like saying:

“Carry on operating illegally, just don’t forget to pay us”?

Critics argue it would be smarter to:

Set clear national rules for online products
Fix the split of powers between the National Gambling Board and provincial authorities
Harmonise technical standards and responsible gambling rules

Once the framework is stable and sensible, then build a tax system that:

Makes sense alongside provincial levies
Balances revenue collection with harm reduction
Channels a meaningful, transparent portion into a properly managed, responsible gambling fund

From a player’s point of view, that’s a lot easier to trust than a sudden extra tax that looks like a cash-grab.

So what should South African players do right now?

A few key points:

This is still a draft proposal, not law (yet). The industry is pushing back hard, so there could be changes before anything is final.
In the short term, nothing changes about your current bets, spins, withdrawals or bonuses.
Over the next year or so, keep an eye on your promos. If this tax arrives in a heavy form, operators will quietly adjust offers and terms to survive.
Be extra wary of huge, too-good-to-be-true offshore bonuses that pop up in response. If a site isn’t properly licensed in South Africa, that R10,000 “no-questions-asked” welcome offer might come with a side order of “goodbye, winnings”.

The bottom line

Yes, this tax story absolutely matters to every South African who bets or plays online.

It’s not just a boring policy fight – it’s about:

How much value do you get from each rand you deposit
Whether your favourite legal brands can stay competitive
How many players get tempted into shady offshore casinos chasing bigger bonuses

For now, play smart:

Stick to properly licensed sites
Read the small print on any bonus
And keep an eye on this tax saga – because if Treasury grabs a bigger slice, your bonus buffet is probably first on the chopping block.