Children as young as 10 years old are suffering with gambling problems in South Africa and the government is set to discuss the National Gambling Amendment Bill as a result.
News reports have revealed shocking revelations in the past year surrounding online gambling addiction in South Africa as it has become more widespread since the Covid-19 pandemic
Parliament’s latest discussions will revolve around the national bill as they look to fight against the growing problem of underage gambling in the country.
A report from the BBC described South Africa’s growing gambling issues as a ‘crisis’, which is down to the ‘explosive growth of online gambling’ with companies benefitting with high revenues.
5% of South African teenagers reportedly exhibit signs of compulsive gambling, according to a 2024 IOL report, and that this underage problem isn’t only limited to the country, it happens worldwide as well as in SA.
Managing director explains youth betting crisis
Speaking on the subject on July 22, Claire Heckrath, InfoQuest Managing Director, joined the SABC News broadcast to help make sense of the current landscape of underage gambling in South Africa.
Heckrath began by explaining how prevalent it is in schools across the country. “It is definitely becoming more prevalent, we have been looking at the youth market especially as they are being more targeted – especially online sports betting,” She began.
“Our survey covered ages 18-34 but many said that they had begun gambling earlier, which is evidence of underage gambling.”
Following on, she cited economic factors as another reason for the rise, with many wanting to generate extra money for themselves or their household and she explained how they are gaining access via using parent’s identification and accounts.
“We believe they are using parents IDs and I think there should be more legislation to deal with that because it is problematic, how are they able to bypass this so easily?”
Regarding the news of the government meeting to discuss the gambling bill, Heckrath expressed that she would hope to see something come in to combat children as young a 10 from having access.
“I think that it needs to help not only the youth but adult gamblers as well. People are losing money and people are budgeting to gamble.
“We believe that they do start young, the research can’t go to that age but we are looking at that in the coming months. I think they probably start as young as 10.”
