13 Arrested as South Africa’s New Gambling Task Team Runs First Raids
South Africa’s newly formed Illegal Gambling Task Team (IGTT) has made its first arrests, detaining 13 people and inspecting five suspected illegal gambling operations disguised as internet cafés in Limpopo province.
The raids took place on August 4 in Modimolle and August 6 in Lephalale. The National Gambling Board (NGB), the Limpopo Gambling Board, the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator, the North West Gambling Board and the South African Police Service (SAPS) carried out the operations jointly.
Of the 13 people arrested, five were customers, six were site managers and two were cashiers. Investigators opened criminal cases, issued fines and confiscated R10,853.10 in cash.
Internet Cafés as Cover
All five premises inspected in Limpopo were operating as internet cafés while allegedly offering illegal gambling services. The front let unlicensed operators look ordinary to passers-by and regulators alike, while gambling activity ran outside the licensed market. Two of the premises also displayed questionable Film and Publication Board certificates, which the task team referred for separate investigation.
NGB acting chief executive Lungile Dukwana said the IGTT was created to improve coordination between national and provincial regulators and police.
“These operations demonstrate our collective commitment to protecting South Africans from illegal gambling,” said Dukwana.
The IGTT operates under the Law Enforcement Forum, which brings the NGB and provincial licensing authorities together in a single structure. Limpopo is the first province the task team has targeted. The NGB plans to apply what it learns there as the operation expands to the remaining eight provinces.
A Province With a Track Record
Limpopo is not new ground for NGB-led enforcement. In an earlier case, a court-authorised raid in Hoedspruit on March 24 led to the arrest of five people at an illegal gambling venue, where investigators seized 17 computers. Two of those arrested were later convicted, with one receiving six months in prison or a R2,000 fine for the gambling offence and a separate seven-month sentence with no fine option for an immigration violation, followed by deportation.
Dukwana said at the time that regulators and law enforcement agencies were prepared to pursue illegal gambling operators through the courts, and the NGB has warned that consumers who use unlicensed platforms have no legal recourse if an operator refuses to pay out or disputes a win.
A Bigger Problem Online
The Limpopo raids address the physical side of illegal gambling. The online side is larger and harder to police. In June, the NGB issued an expression of interest for a technology provider capable of identifying, monitoring, blocking and reporting illegal gambling websites targeting South African players. The NGB published an erratum amending that expression of interest in July.
A report from Yield Sec, commissioned by the South African Bookmakers’ Association (SABA) and published in 2024, estimated that illegal operators accounted for about 62% of online gambling activity in South Africa, with more than R50 billion in gross gambling revenue flowing offshore each year. The report put the number of South Africans who engaged with illegal online gambling platforms at around 16 million. SABA chief executive Sean Coleman has pointed to licences from Curaçao, Malta, Gibraltar and the Philippines as carrying no legal standing under the National Gambling Act.
Those figures come from an industry-commissioned report, not a government audit, but they set the scale the NGB is trying to address once individual raids are no longer enough on their own.
The NGB launched a Verified Gambling Operators portal in April, letting players check whether an operator holds a valid licence before they deposit money. The regulator has urged consumers to use the portal before signing up with any gambling site.
The Limpopo operation was the IGTT’s first test. Whether the coordination model it used holds up will depend on how it performs once it moves into provinces with larger illegal gambling markets, and on how the NGB’s website-blocking plan progresses once a technology provider is appointed.
Source: National Gambling Board
