Betting firms now run the sponsorship plumbing of SA sport

Betting brands have built themselves into the delivery machinery of South African sport, and researchers at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) warned this week that the infrastructure now normalises online gambling. Hollywoodbets sponsors the Sharks and the Dolphins. 10bet holds a five-year naming-rights deal for Ellis Park Stadium, home of the Lions rugby team. Rugby player Eben Etzebeth has featured in Hollywoodbets campaigns, showing how betting operators use prominent sporting figures to reach sports audiences.

At a media conference on Monday, October 12, SRI raised concerns that sports stars and celebrities could make betting appear harmless to young fans who see them as role models. Theuns du Buisson, an economic researcher at the institute, said gambling advertising, specifically online betting advertising, had increasingly filled the space once occupied by cigarette and alcohol promotion. He warned it could be just as dangerous, but was often masked by what he called the promise of hope.

The operational footprint runs deeper than stadiums. A source close to these sponsorships told Caxton Network News that a top player could earn up to R1m annually, with lesser players receiving around R500 000. These amounts are unconfirmed, as sports teams rarely disclose individual deals. Meanwhile, online lottery and gaming platform Lottoland is associated with Help ‘n Dorp, an initiative featured on kykNET that supports towns through community improvement projects. According to promotional coverage, the initiative benefited 44 towns, with more than R50m invested by September this year. The questions are how much funding reaches projects directly, whether the improvements last and whether the initiative measures its impact on gambling behaviour.

Caxton Network News contacted Etzebeth’s team for comment. No response had been received by the time of publication. Hollywoodbets acknowledged receipt of the enquiries. Kuhle Mkize, public relations and communications manager at the Hollywood Group, said some questions concerned broader gambling industry matters and would be better addressed by independent industry bodies able to provide a holistic sector perspective rather than that of an individual operator.

Nicolien Welthagen, a senior research psychologist at SRI, said the endorsements were particularly concerning in a country where sport plays such an important role. “Younger people look up to sports stars. They are role models,” she said during the media conference. She added that young fans could read someone like Etzebeth’s association with a betting brand as an endorsement of gambling, and raised concerns about how deeply gambling companies have embedded themselves in sport and everyday life, and about the financial cycle that develops when people keep betting in the hope of winning.

Sporting bodies point to the limits of their own role. Jacques Faul, an associate professor at North-West University and CEO of the Titans Cricket Union, said sporting organisations were aware of concerns about gambling but that the relevant authorities, not the organisations themselves, were responsible for regulating the industry. He said the Titans’ online betting sponsor operated legally in the country and that sponsorship money was channelled back into communities, including cricket development in informal settlements. Faul said he viewed such sponsorships primarily from an investment perspective.

The growth behind these concerns is stark. According to an SRI report released by Solidarity on Monday, online gambling grew by 390% between 2021 and 2025, while other forms of gambling did not experience comparable growth. Du Buisson attributed the increase partly to advances in technology, which allow people to gamble on their cellphones almost anytime, anywhere.

Enforcement is where the system strains. Licensed sports betting is legal, but online casino-style gambling remains prohibited under South Africa’s legal framework. The National Gambling Act and provincial gambling laws permit online sports betting through appropriately licensed bookmakers, but a bookmaker’s licence does not automatically authorise online casino games such as roulette and slots. In October 2025, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that bookmakers could not offer roulette under their Gauteng licences, highlighting the distinction between lawful betting and prohibited interactive gambling. Du Buisson noted that the law has many grey areas and that regulating overseas platforms is difficult; offshore websites are not automatically authorised to target South African customers simply because they hold licences elsewhere, although enforcement against operators based abroad remains difficult. He argued the restrictions were not being adequately enforced and that online casino games continued to be offered and advertised.

The National Gambling Board’s 2024/25 annual report highlights concerns about illegal online gambling and regulatory gaps, while the board’s verified operators list allows consumers to check whether an operator is licensed in South Africa. The original report was published by The Citizen at https://www.citizen.co.za/network-news/lnn/article/researchers-warn-celebrity-endorsements-are-normalising-online-gambling/.

The human cost of weak enforcement is already visible, according to Hannes Noëth, chief executive of Helpende Hand, who described online gambling as a silent killer tearing communities apart. “I know of senior citizens who bet their Sassa income away. I know of a well-known farmer who committed suicide after drowning in gambling debt. I spoke to a student from the University of Stellenbosch who gambled his NSFAS bursary away one day after receiving it.” He said people struggling financially might continue gambling in the hope of earning extra income or winning back losses, with consequences that could include debt, broken relationships and severe emotional distress. He argued online gambling could not be treated simply as a matter of individual choice when its consequences spread through households and communities.

Du Buisson argued that while gambling companies may create jobs and support community projects, these benefits should not be used to justify the industry’s wider impact. There were other ways to create jobs, support communities and gain sponsorships without relying on online gambling, he said. Maryke Haywood, head of marketing at Lottoland, did not specifically address the questions sent to her, but said supporting communities and reducing gambling-related harm are not competing priorities. “Lottoland must do both. Our community programmes make a meaningful contribution, but we accept that the most important responsibility is to ensure that customers make informed decisions.”

The SRI report recommends stricter enforcement against illegal online casinos and prohibited gambling advertisements, tighter restrictions on betting adverts where children and young people are likely to see them, and limits on the use of sports stars and celebrities to promote gambling. It further calls for stronger oversight of online gambling operators, including those operating illegally from abroad, and better public education about the odds of winning and the financial risks involved. Whether regulators can close the gap between what the law permits and what operators actually deliver remains the open question.