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Accounting Giant Highlights South Africa Increased Online Gambling

Not too long ago, the global accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) issued what many are considering to be an eye opening report. This highly detailed analysis pointed out that in a mere five year’s time, the entertainment and media sectors have experienced a tremendous growth spurt.

Not surprisingly, online gaming is in fact one of the fastest growing segments in South Africa. According to the numbers released by PWC, consumer spending on gaming is expected to reach 3.6Billion Rand by the year 2018.

More tellingly perhaps is the extraordinary rise in online gambling throughout the country. Legal, not legal, regulated or not, all signs point to the very real fact that the average South African online casino player doesn’t even care. Consumers are heading to offshore online casinos in droves.

Sure legalization of online casinos was supposed to be on the agenda for Parliament this year. Remember that it was but a few weeks ago that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) came out strongly against any such legalization. Perhaps if the DTI had seen this report from PWC beforehand, the Department might have had a different viewpoint.

All the same, as just stated, online casino action is hot at the moment and is expected to continue its rapid growth in popularity. PWC addresses the growing popularity of online gambling. The report points out that a significant portion of the population that likes the thrill of an online casino action actually prefer the mobile versions.

This makes sense since South Africa has a high percentage of Smartphone ownership. In large part, this may be due to the arrival of cheaper devices that run on the Android platform. In fact, another study issued by the firm, eMarketer, pointed out that mobile phone usage in South Africa effectively doubled in the year 2013. Not only that, Smarthpones already represent 20% of the mobile devices available.

Another factor that has led to the incredible rise in online casino action in South Africa is the more widespread use of the Internet. Recent statistics suggest that the growth rate of Internet use is growing at more than 23% a year.

All of the above can be summed up succinctly like this: online gambling is here in South Africa, it’s not going away. In fact, as you just read, its becoming increasingly popular. Looks like its past time for legislators to go ahead and see what is already right there in front of them. South Africans want online casino action and they are going to get it one way or another.

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