Verify a South African bookmaker licence
Enter a bookmaker name to see which South African provincial board issued its licence, the licence number, the registered entity and whether the licence is active. Gambling licences here are provincial, not national, so the board that issued the licence is the one you check with.
How the check works
- You type a bookmaker name.
- We look it up in our own licence register. The primary source for each entry is the operator's published licence disclosure, usually its site footer. Where an operator site is bot-walled or geo-blocked, the entry is marked corroborated and was built from regulator registers, provincial gazettes, PAIA manuals or partner sites, with the URLs we used recorded against it.
- We return the licensing board, the licence number, the registered entity and the current status.
- You cross-check the licence number against the number on the operator's own site, then against the issuing board's public register. If the three do not agree, do not deposit.
Each entry carries its own verified date and its verification status, primary or corroborated. Our register is a convenience, not the authority. The board's register is the authority.
The official registers, so you can check it yourself
- National Gambling Board. The verified operators portal is the quickest national first check.
- Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. Public licence holder lists for bookmakers, casinos, LPM operators, manufacturers and totalisators. The board's national testing agent is named on the same page as Ecogra Labs SA (Pty) Ltd.
- Gauteng Gambling Board. The licensees register.
- KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Board. The published bookmaker licensee list.
- Mpumalanga Economic Regulator. Licensee and legislation pages at mer.org.za, which is where several national brands hold their primary bookmaker licence.
- North West Gambling Board. The licence holders list by licence type.
- The rest. Eastern Cape Gambling Board, Free State Gambling, Liquor and Tourism Authority, Limpopo Gambling Board and Northern Cape Gambling Board. Profiles for all nine are on our regulator hub.
What a bookmaker licence does and does not allow
A provincial bookmaker licence covers fixed-odds betting on sport and horse racing. It is not an online casino licence. Section 11 of the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004 prohibits interactive gambling unless national legislation authorises it, and the Remote Gambling Bill (B11-2024) lapsed in May 2024, per the bill tracker.
Where a brand offers RNG games, the licensing province matters. On 21 October 2025 the Supreme Court of Appeal held in Portapa (Pty) Limited t/a Supabets and Others v Casino Association of South Africa and Another that roulette is not a sporting event under the Gauteng Gambling Act 4 of 1995, so a Gauteng-licensed bookmaker may not take fixed-odds bets on casino-game outcomes (Betline). The Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board said in November 2025 that the judgment does not apply to its licensees, and the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator permits casino-style contingencies.
On the server side, a National Gambling Board directive to the provinces reported on 28 February 2026, issued under sections 33 and 34 of the National Gambling Act, told provinces to stop approving or allowing remote gambling servers and to act on non-compliance (Casino.com). The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications will not issue, renew or extend letters of certification for remote gambling servers, referencing SANS 1718-4:2018 (Edition 3). If a site offers you casino games with no South African licence behind them, it is an offshore service and your deposit has no local protection.
Why licence verification matters
- An operator that cannot show a South African provincial licence is unlicensed. Deposits are not protected.
- A licence number that does not match the register almost always means the site has copied a real number from a genuine operator.
- An expired or suspended licence means the operator should not be accepting new deposits.
- A licence issued in one province does not authorise every product the brand advertises. Check the board, then check what that board permits.
Full operator index (A to Z)
Every South African bookmaker in our verified register. Click a name to see its licence, or use the search box above.