South African Betting Licence Register

Last verified: 25 July 2026. This is a living reference page — we re-run the checks below each cycle and record what we could and could not confirm.

Since 8 April 2026 you can check any South African gambling operator's licence yourself, in about thirty seconds. The National Gambling Board launched a public Verified Gambling Operators portal that lists every operator legally authorised to offer gambling in South Africa — built with the provincial licensing authorities, searchable, and covering online bookmakers as well as land-based venues.

This page does two things. It lists the licence details of every operator we recommend, and it shows you exactly how to run the same check on any operator you come across. Where our own records and the regulator's register disagree, we say so rather than quietly picking one.

How South African Betting Licences Work

Three facts explain almost everything about licence numbers in this market.

Licences are issued provincially, not nationally. Nine provincial licensing authorities issue bookmaker licences. The National Gambling Board sets national norms and standards and oversees the provincial boards, but it does not itself license bookmakers.

One provincial licence supports a national operation. A bookmaker licensed in one province may lawfully accept telephonic and online bets from residents of every other province. This is why an operator you have never associated with Cape Town or Durban will name the Western Cape or KwaZulu-Natal board in its footer — it is a real licence, not a technicality.

New bookmaker licences are only available in some provinces. At present the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape boards issue bookmaker licences on application; elsewhere an operator generally has to acquire an existing licensee. That concentration is why so much of the roster below sits under the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board.

A licence number usually carries a suffix — 10180204-013, for example. The suffix increments as the licence is renewed or amended, which is the single most common reason a number published on one site differs by a digit or two from the number on another.

The Register — Operators We Recommend

Every operator below holds a South African provincial licence. The "verified" column records what we could independently confirm in the current cycle against the NGB portal or the provincial board's own licence-holder list.

Read "➖ not reached" correctly. It does not mean an operator is missing from the register or unlicensed. The NGB portal paginates by province and our extraction in this cycle returned partial data for some provinces. These entries are unconfirmed by us, this cycle — nothing more. We would rather publish that honestly than imply a check we did not complete.

Notes on individual entries

Hollywoodbets is licensed in several provinces, not one. KwaZulu-Natal is its home board, and the NGB portal shows the group holding licences across provinces — including a bookmaker licence in Mpumalanga (9-2-1-00050, Secunda), Eastern Cape bookmaker licences under Hollywood Sportsbook Eastern Cape (Pty) Ltd in the ECBM012 series, and a long list of KwaZulu-Natal site-operator permits. The Western Cape board's own licence-holder list also names Hollywood Sportsbook Western Cape (Pty) Ltd. Quoting a single number for Hollywoodbets would be misleading, so we don't.

ZarBet — an unresolved discrepancy we are flagging rather than papering over. Our records and the operator's published details give 10010581-031. The NGB portal currently lists "Apollo Gaming 2024 (Pty) Ltd t/a ZARbet.co.za" with licence number 10010581-**030**. The Western Cape board's licence-holder list confirms Apollo Gaming (Pty) Ltd as a licensed bookmaker. The base number is identical and only the renewal suffix differs, which is the ordinary pattern when a licence is renewed and a register has not yet caught up — the bookmakers' association publicly noted in April 2026 that licences granted as recently as March 2026 were not yet reflected in the portal. We have not changed our stored figure on the strength of a register that may be lagging, and we are recording the difference here until the two agree.

Tic-Tac Bets appears on the portal without a number. The register lists "Vengies t/a Tic Tac" as a Northern Cape bookmaker at two premises (Kuruman and Postmasburg), but the licence-number field is blank in those rows. Our stored number, NCGLB-BM.2025/01, comes from the operator. Province, company and licence type are confirmed; the number is not confirmable on the portal today.

Betshezi's number is new information. Our record previously named the Western Cape board without a number. The NGB portal lists "SMP Gaming (Pty) Ltd t/a Betshezi" with 10191121-004, and the Western Cape board's own list confirms SMP Gaming (Pty) Ltd as a licensed bookmaker. A related entity, SMP Gaming Eastern Cape (Pty) Ltd, is separately listed in the Eastern Cape under ECBM033.

How to Check Any Operator Yourself

The whole point of this page is that you don't have to trust it. Three checks, in order of speed:

1. Read the site's footer. A licensed South African operator names its provincial board, and usually its licence number and licensed company, at the bottom of every page. No board named, no deposit. An offshore site will instead name Curaçao, Anjouan, Kahnawake or Comoros — or nothing at all.
2. Search the NGB portal. Go to ngb.org.za/verified-operators and search the licensed company name, not the brand. This trips people up constantly: YesPlay is listed as SA Sportsbook (Pty) Ltd, Betshezi as SMP Gaming (Pty) Ltd, ZarBet as Apollo Gaming. The trading name usually appears after a "t/a", but the company name is the reliable search term.
3. Check the provincial board's own list. Each board publishes its licensees. The Western Cape board's licence holders page lists every licensed bookmaker company in the province, and is a useful cross-check when the national portal is behind. Our KZN Gaming and Betting Board guide covers the KwaZulu-Natal equivalent.

One honest caveat about the portal. The bookmakers' association welcomed its launch but pointed out that its value depends on the data being current, and flagged in April 2026 that recently granted licences were not yet reflected. So a hit on the portal is strong confirmation; an absence may mean the register is behind rather than that the operator is illegal. Cross-check with the provincial board before concluding anything from a blank result.

What a Licence Actually Gets You

It is worth being concrete about why any of this matters, because "licensed" can sound like a badge rather than a protection.

A licensed operator answers to a provincial board that can suspend or revoke its licence and can act on your complaint. Your winnings are enforceable rather than discretionary. FICA rules govern how your identity and money are handled. And the operator sits inside a legal framework where a dispute has somewhere to go.

None of that exists offshore. Our reviews of SilverSands, Apollo Slots and African Grand show the pattern: paperwork from a jurisdiction with no interest in South African players, and no route to recovery when a withdrawal stops. The legal background to that gap is in our operator-vs-player guide.

FAQ

How do I check if a betting site is licensed in South Africa? Search the operator's licensed company name on the National Gambling Board's Verified Gambling Operators portal at ngb.org.za/verified-operators. Search the company name rather than the brand — YesPlay is listed as SA Sportsbook (Pty) Ltd, for instance. Cross-check with the relevant provincial board's own licensee list if the portal returns nothing.

What is the NGB verified operators portal? A public register launched on 8 April 2026, built by the National Gambling Board with the provincial licensing authorities. It lists every operator legally authorised to offer gambling in South Africa, online and land-based, and is intended for the public, law enforcement, tax authorities and financial institutions.

Which board licenses most South African betting sites? The Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board licenses the largest number of online bookmakers, because it is one of the few boards still issuing new bookmaker licences on application. The Mpumalanga Economic Regulator, Northern Cape Gambling Board, Eastern Cape Gambling Board and KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Board license the rest of the well-known brands.

Can a bookmaker licensed in one province take my bet in another? Yes. A provincially licensed bookmaker may lawfully accept telephonic and online bets from residents of any South African province. A Western Cape licence is not a Western Cape-only permission.

Why do two sites list different licence numbers for the same operator? Almost always the renewal suffix. A number like 10010581-031 shares its base with 10010581-030; the trailing digits increment as the licence is renewed or amended, and registers update at different speeds. A different base number for the same brand is a genuine red flag; a different suffix usually is not.

What if an operator isn't on the NGB portal? Don't treat absence as proof either way. The bookmakers' association noted in April 2026 that recently issued licences were not yet appearing on the portal. Check the provincial board's own licensee list before concluding anything — and if neither source lists the operator and no South African board is named on its site, treat it as unlicensed.

Licence details are recorded as published by the operator, the National Gambling Board and the relevant provincial board at the date of verification above, and can change on renewal. Verify before you deposit. 18+ only. Gambling involves financial risk; bet for entertainment and never stake more than you can afford to lose. If gambling is no longer fun, contact the National Responsible Gambling helpline on 0800 006 008 or SMS HELP to 076 675 0710.