CasinoZA.com is the leading guide to South Africa’s best online casinos for 2020. An online casino is where South African gamblers can play casino games on the internet. Casino ZA is the premier source of information on everything to do with top online casinos, online casino games, and online gambling in South Africa. Legal gambling in South Africa may be limited to land-based casinos, but the online landscape is welcoming and safe for players in the country, especially at our top online casinos. Customer Support South African casinos in the digital space should have world-class customer support with 24/7 coverage.
How we estimate South African online casinos
Our expert team has this article written specifically for lovers of on-line betting on sports and casino gambling. From it, a reader can become acquainted with many aspects of on-line gambling, finds out how to do it safely given the current legal conditions in the country & what to look for when seeking a nice gambling house. Let’s begin with the description of how our expert teams estimate online casino in South Africa.
Games choice
Every attractive place for online gambling in South Africa shall have a good selection of on-line games. Those new ones appearing on market usually have no less than a few hundreds of various games, from poker to roulette & from baccarat to craps and bingo. Our expert team has seen gambling facilities that offer over 1,000 slots – even that is not a limit. Obviously, you should opt for those South African online casinos that host more games – for the sake of diversity of your fun.
Customer support & service
The importance of customer support is high because newcomers to a gambling facility may have a lot of questions at first. The more channels in number are given to users, the better it is for them (as their questions are resolved promptly) and for the casino (as it keeps the loyalty of users high).
Bonuses, including welcome bonuses
Bonuses may be the most important part, what gamblers seek in new and old on-line gambling facilities. Those bonuses given to new players are often much more flamboyant than ones given to existing players because of the desire of every new and best paying online casino South Africa to attract more players through such promotion. So, such welcome bonuses may include money for the registration, money for depositing (this offer can be up to +500% to your initial deposit and some percent of addition to a few following deposits after), free spins in one of the specifically mentioned slots & periodic cashback for the money you’ve lost to the casino during one of the previous periods. Existing players also receive an opportunity to participate in tournaments, go through levels to reach the VIP level, have gifts for their birthdays & more. The generosity of bonuses of a new on-line facility for gambling is what makes people constantly search for new gambling houses like hunters.
Legality and general safety in online casinos
As you know, on-line gambling in South Africa is illegal although land-based casinos operate under licenses, which are issued officially. Today, no casino operating on-line in South Africa is thus legal. Also, gambling in them is illegal, too. Modern legal online casinos, which operate in the country, have found numerous ways of how to bypass this prohibition – like using alternative payment channels, not directly showing the connection of payments to on-line gambling houses & allowing users to play through proxy servers, amongst other precautionary measures.
But the issue of ‘gray’ legal scheme doesn’t mean the casino shall forget about players’ security – of their financial and personal data, namely. When our expert team tests the casinos for South Africa, it thoroughly investigates the issue of safety and security, scrupulously studying all pieces of feedback of users on the Internet, to find out whether to recommend or not this or that on-line gambling house. The biggest factors that matter to us are: 1) the casino’s official gambling license rendered by one of the recognized jurisdictions (like Malta or the UK) and 2) the availability of secure payment protocols during payments (including SSL protection).
Depositing and withdrawals in South African casinos
Minding the tricky question of the legality of on-line facilities for gambling in South Africa, banks don’t usually deal with sending money to accounts in on-line gambling facilities or with receiving money from them to bank cards. That’s why casinos either mask their purposes of payments, completely replacing them with something non-casino like ‘Payment for utilities online’ (or something like that) to avoid ban of money flows from them and to them. Also, clients are free to use alternative payment methods, such as BCashy, EasyEFT, EcoPayz, Neteller, Skrill, bitcoins and Apple Pay – that’s in addition to one of many existing electronic wallets, working with which raises significantly lesser questions from banking and regulatory bodies in the country.
Good gambling houses operating on-line should work ideally with all available payment channels listed above, which all contribute to your complete or nearly complete financial anonymity from the controlling bodies (including tax inspections) in the region. Ideally, look for a casino that offers fast depositing and withdrawal methods, especially withdrawal – it should not take week(s). The best online casinos showing much respect to their users shall allow withdrawal in a matter of days, if not hours (after the identity of the user is verified according to the casino’s rules).
What games are the most popular in South Africa?
South Africa is a place where people like betting on various sports (including virtual ones), racing & slots. Below, our expert team describes the list of casino games – the most popular games among South Africans. In addition to those described below, our readers have to know that there is a possibility to play with a live dealer (for those games that have a dealer). This raises the degree of fun, making it feel like in a real land-based casino.
Slot games
To play them, you really don’t need to know rules, as there are no hard rules of playing at all – simply spin the reel and rely on your luck. People are attracted to slots because of their fascinating beauty and the diversity of themes, from space to ancient Egypt, from treasure islands to monsters and bewitching vampire stories.
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Blackjack games
This is one of the easiest games to play – where a player has to score 21 to win. As you can tell, there is no much sophistication and players compete against a dealer or with one another and a dealer (if a table accommodates many players).
Roulette games
Roulette is a pure game of chance and luck. People win and lose fortunes in roulette as the gameplay stipulates large bets with tremendous leverages (from 1:1 to 1:36 winning chances). There are two most widespread types of roulette games: European and American, differing with a number of zeroes on the circling part.
Bingo games
Bingo is one of the oldest funs for people of all ages but mostly for pensioners, as it provides tranquility of play yet the possibility to feel the adrenaline. You can’t really win super large money in Bingo but you also can’t lose much.
Lottery games
A lottery is one of the most profitable games for all participating parties – for organizers because a lot of players wish to participate & for players – because the sums of winning reach millions or even billions! Many play lotteries despite slim to none chances of winning super large for each individual participant.
Best developers of online casino games in South Africa
Below, our expert team is looking at the most known best developers of on-line games in South Africa: RTG, Playtech, Microgaming, NetEnt & IGT. These five are monsters of their business and their games are known by millions.
The RTG Company
RTG is also known as RealTime Gaming. It was established in 1998 in the US but at the end of 2008, it moved to Costa Rica. It was bought in 2007 by an HBM Group and now works under the flag of Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. RTG produces slots and video pokers & its products are used by tens of thousands of online gambling sites.
The Playtech Company
Playtech is on the market since 1999. Its headquarters are in London. It provides software for all types of on-line games, including not purely games but also software for owners of on-line gambling houses, which is designed to help them do their business: accounting, anti-fraud, reporting, CRM & others. The company is so large that it has stocks rotating on London’s Stock Exchange and they are a part of an index called FTSE 250. The total cost of stocks is 1.7 billion dollars, which makes Playtech the richest company of all gambling manufacturers.
The Microgaming Company
This company was the world’s first on-line gambling software maker, as it exists since 1994. It is based on the Isle of Man (under the British crown). It is known for producing the largest-giving on-line slots of all times Mega Moolah, which gave out $6,374,434 in 2009 and then €17,879,645 in 2015. Up to now, it is still the biggest winning from an on-line slot. That’s the main reason for the choice of the company’s products by tens of thousands of gamblers.
The NetEnt Company
NetEnt is known for the provision of over 200 slots. NetEnt works for on-line and offline African casinos, whilst being on the market over twenty years. Their products have an easy interface, amazing graphics & large game customization opportunities for casino operators.
The IGT Company
IGT is the International Game Technology PLC, previously known as Gtech and Lottomatica. It is a public company with tens of millions of US dollars of quarterly revenues & it caters to such industries: iGaming, lottery, sports betting & digital play.
What features online casinos offer their users
Let’s look at what features on-line houses of play offer their users to keep their interest in gambling high.
Mobile apps
Mobile versions of websites and mobile apps for their mobile platforms (gadgets) are very widespread solutions in modern markets. In South Africa, people do not always have advanced mobile devices, so on-line gambling facilities often tune their websites for both mobile and PC gamblers to cover wider audiences. Playing from your phone makes it possible for you to stay connected 24/7 wherever you are.
Fast withdrawal
The possibility to take out of the online casino your winnings fast (in a matter of hours or days) is one of the cornerstones for many gamblers. Nobody wants to wait for weeks and (when winnings are large) months. The rules of many online casinos allow them to split amounts of winnings, which gamblers opt to withdraw if the amount exceeds some threshold. But many don’t want to wait until their balance comes to their wallet or card that long. For the reason for the attraction of new gamblers to their online casinos, many of their owners have established immediate withdrawals for sums not more than thousands of rands. These and smaller amounts are withdrawn immediately or close to that (after a gambler passes full identification) – minutes or, at max, up to hours.
For VIPs and for low-rollers
A certain share of gamblers distinctively discerns from others – they are able to bet large sums of money. They’re called high-rollers and VIPs. Low-rollers are, on the contrary, those people, who can’t afford to bet too much (sometimes, one rand is already a quite large amount from them to bet in a spin of a slot). Yet, they’re still interested in gaming on-line because they’d like to feel that rush of adrenaline in their veins. Those online casinos in South Africa that are capable of delivering gambling opportunities to all these categories of players will win the market by gaining a bigger client base.
Without registration
A possibility to gamble without registration is one of much sought-for features for tax avoidance. That’s why people are highly interested in online casinos providing this option. Also, they’ll be able to play for no money, exploring the games and finding their own interest in such a process.
Where is it better to play – in existing or new casinos?
A new casino is usually a place, which gives appealing bonuses to players, whilst most existing casinos aren’t that generous. If you feel that you aren’t having enough free spins, deposit additions, cashback & prizes for your participation in weekly tournaments or other events in your current gambling facility, this is a great opportunity to search for other places. Today, there are plenty of online casinos, which give real advantages. For instance, try Yeti Casino, Europa Casino, Tropez, Springbok Casino, Fun Casino, Yako & Caramba. Their bonuses and win rates in slots are positively impressive.
Reviewing the history of South African online casinos
South African gambling counts for soon-to-be 4 centuries of gambling history, which started in 1673. Since that year, all gambling was prohibited except horseracing, which was considered a sports event, not a gambling entertainment. First legal land-based casinos started to open in the 1970s, whilst the first global regulation of the area was made in 1996.
In 2004, the National Gambling Act put a prohibition on all on-line gambling, except horseracing, bets on sports & some other bookmaking. Up to today, despite several juridical attempts, the ban has not been removed, which results in the impossibility of legal play in online casinos. All of them working for the South African market today do it through gray schemes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to gamble in online casinos in South Africa?
If you pick one of the casinos that our expert team recommends on this website, they are safe and sound to play – as they have our trust and trust of many users, which our expert team thoroughly investigates prior to placing casinos on our on-line catalog. But you should not disclose your identity or financial data to anyone except for the official website of a casino and its administration – to avoid your money or identity theft. This is especially true when you do large financial transactions from and in casinos.
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The legality of online casinos in South Africa
The biggest awareness that you should know is that when you gamble on-line, you aren’t protected by South African laws. So, should anything happen like the casino’s denial to pay out your winning or even banning your account for no reason – you can’t legally protest against their actions or the absence of actions. With that in mind, our expert team recommends our readers to select only those gambling facilities that are reputable amongst players and don’t have such complaints spoiling their public image.
Is it possible to win real money in online casinos?
Yes – if you only deposit real money. Some sign-up welcome bonuses also offer you money for games but it is rather hard to win it not depositing some real money. Also, mind the requirements of wager for ‘welcome’ money coming for nothing but registration – withdrawing wagered money is actually rarely feasible.
Is it possible to play casino games from a smartphone/tablet?
Yes & that’s what modern gambling houses attract new users with. It is convenient for gamblers, so the apps for mobiles or mobile-optimal websites are frequent. You play on the go, during your leisure & rest time.
How bonuses of online casinos work?
Most welcome bonuses are given for registration and some specific first conditions like replenishing your account with real money. Others are action-bind, for instance, to receive a weekly cashback, you need to lose some money first. Or to have a better wager/lesser withdrawal times, you need to become a high-roller.