Community organisation amandla.mobi condemns Minister Parks Tau for allowing gambling companies to sponsor the Responsible Gambling Summit hosted by the National Gambling Board, which will be held from the 13th to the 14th of November 2025. The National Gambling Board is supposed to regulate gambling to protect the people of South Africa from harm, but instead, the regulator has been dysfunctional and without a board for 11 years [1]. Gambling and betting have increased significantly in South Africa, with many people gambling because their salaries are not enough [2]. The gambling crisis is driving debt and addiction, which is destroying lives. South Africa needs a regulator who will stand up to the industry, but instead, the National Gambling Board is taking money from gambling companies to sponsor a summit.
“You wouldn’t let cigarette companies sponsor a conference on lung cancer, but by allowing Hollywood Bets and Betway to sponsor a Responsible Gambling Summit, Minister Tau and the National Gambling Board have allowed gambling companies to be player and referee at the same time,” says Tebogo Gabang, amandla.mobi Member Engagement Officer.
Companies often oppose regulations and laws that could threaten their profits, instead advocating for self-regulation. We know from the 2018 deadly listeriosis outbreak that self-regulation does not work [3]. In the face of stronger regulations, companies will use their resources to delay, dilute and delegitimise public policy. Corporate sponsorship is often used by companies to ingratiate themselves with key officials. We should all question the true motives of gambling companies sponsoring government events, children’s sports uniforms and community events. Gambling, like smoking, harms our society. South Africa needs to ban gambling ads and sponsorships, just like we did with tobacco.
As a nation, we must ask tough questions about why Minister Tau is not taking decisive action to address the gambling crisis. Gambling is an issue many people are concerned about, yet all we have seen and heard from the government are words, not actions. Minister Parks Tau must stop gambling companies from having a seat at the decision-making table. We need stricter regulations on gambling advertising and sponsorship, and that should start with a ban on gambling companies sponsoring a responsible gambling summit organised by the gambling regulator.
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[1] Gambling boss quits after forensic audit by Raymond Joseph and Joseph Bracken for Ground Up. 31 July 2025
[2] Betting on desperation: How the poor are fueling SA’s gambling boom‘ by Jeremy Maggs for MoneyWeb. 11 June 2025
[3] Awakening from the listeriosis crisis: Food safety challenges, practices and governance in the food retail sector in South Africa by Sandra Boatemaa et al. for Science Direct. October 2019