31 OCTOBER 2025, CAPE TOWN

ADDRESSING THE GAMBLING INDUSTRY CRISIS AS A GLOBAL SOCIAL CHALLENGE RATHER THAN AS GOVERNMENT FAILURE

HOUSE CHAIRPERSON 

HONOURABLE MEMBERS 

MINISTERS AND DEPUTY MINISTERS 

COMRADES 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 

GREETINGS TO YOU ALL!

HOUSE CHAIRPERSON,

It is important to underscore that the gambling industry crisis as an aggressive epidemic not only cuts across gender and class but also transcends the borders of South Africa. Across the continent, from Nigeria to Uganda, from Ghana to Ethiopia, governments are grappling with the exact gambling industry crisis sweeping across South Africa. Around the globe, from India to the United Kingdom, from Australia to Brazil, the commercialisation of gambling is increasing the incidence of gambling harm. Even more so, industrialised countries with advanced regulatory frameworks in the gambling industry such as Germany and Japan are struggling to contain gambling harm as mobile gambling apps, offshore betting sites, and online casinos multiply.

Yet, the motion for debate before us today, sponsored by Rise Mzansi Party, irresponsibly presents the gambling industry crisis in South Africa as an outlier, as though the crisis is a direct result of the ANC-led government’s regulatory negligence. Perhaps Honourable Makashule Gana is not aware of this, but it was the ANC-led government, as early as 1996, that introduced the National Gambling Act, aimed at enforcing regulations in the gambling industry that once operated in the shadows to protect vulnerable citizens from slipping into gambling addiction. This Act stands out as a beacon of hope and serves as a role model for other African countries to emulate.

HONOURABLE MEMBERS,

Some parties will no doubt attempt to score cheap points by mentioning that the ANC-led government refused to promulgate the National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008, meant to regulate new forms of gambling, particularly unlicensed and predatory online or offshore gambling which is fuelling the current gambling industry crisis in the country. Let me be clear! The ANC-led government did not promulgate the 2008 Amendment Act as its provisions were rapidly outpaced by the evolving gambling industry. Instead of enforcing an outdated Amendment Act of 2008, the ANC-led government recognized the need to develop a modern, digitally-responsive regulatory framework, which culminated into the National Gambling Amendment Act of 2018 now before the National Assembly. Therefore, to suggest that the ANC-led government does little to nothing to mitigate against the gambling industry crisis is to disregard both history and reality.

FELLOW SOUTH AFRICANS,

The ANC recognizes the negative effects of problem gambling. Problem gambling tears apart families, ruins lives, diverts money from essential household spending, increases indebtedness, leads to food insecurity, triggers depression and anxiety, increases chances of suicide linked to financial distress, and so on. All these risks leave families broken and communities hopeless. In South Africa, the triple challenges of poverty, inequality, and unemployment increase the magnitude of these risks because problem gambling mostly harms vulnerable employed and unemployed citizens as well as students from poor and working-class households, who often resort to making impulsive gambling bets out of desperation or out of the gambling industry’s seductive promises of quick and easy path to affluence, wealth, and prosperity. Our progressive policies, from student funding through the NSFAS to social grants and public employment programmes, are designed to ameliorate the effects of the triple challenges of poverty, inequality, and unemployment on the gambling industry crisis.

The World Health Organization (WHO) adds that people experiencing significant life crises and events including, but certainly not limited to, divorce, retirement, bereavement, and injury are vulnerable to problem gambling as they excessively gamble to ease stress. More importantly, problem gambling incentives victims to engage in illegal ventures such as theft and fraud to feed their addiction. This is the reason why the ANC-led government established the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation, tasked with responsible gambling interventions and programmes such as the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP), meant to mitigate the risks associated with gambling.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

While pervasive advertising that fuels the fire of gambling on televisions, stadiums, social media platforms, and billboards, targeting vulnerable employed and unemployed citizens as well as students from poor and working-class households, is the backbone of the gambling industry crisis, we cannot allow this House to be distracted from the real issue at hand. Much of the gambling industry crisis is intrinsically linked to unregulated online gambling. The deeper cause of this unregulated online gambling lies in what Karl Marx referred to as “technological determinism”, defined by the acceleration of smart phones, high-speed internet, and mobile banking/payment systems which make accessibility to online casinos, offshore betting sites, and mobile gambling apps seamless.

IN CONCLUSION,

Honourable Chairperson, I would like to remind this House that the ANC does not operate in slogans or engage in performative acts like Rise Mzansi Party. We remain committed to strengthening oversight of and modernising regulation in the gambling industry to protect vulnerable citizens who remain the motive forces of the ANC’s National Democratic Revolution (NDR).

I thank you.