A study by Yazi Research has identified several concerning user behaviours in the South African online gambling industry.
Yazi Research is a research company notable for its WhatsApp-native approach to data collection.
It allows for South Africans to submit their answers to survey questions through the popular messaging platform – even supporting voice notes as a means of answering questions.
Using its own tools, Yazi Research recently conducted an online gambling impact study that received over 1,000 responses and covered all nine provinces.
The study found that 90% of respondents had gambled online in the preceding 30 days.
Furthermore, while 72% described themselves as in control of their gambling, 57% acknowledged chasing same-day losses.
“Mainstream participation, a confident self-image, and a behavioural reality that does not quite match the self-image – that is the shape of the category today,” said Yazi Research.
“The strategic, regulatory and product implications start with accepting all three numbers at once, not picking the one that flatters the narrative.”
The research found additional concerning trends in user behaviour.
57% of respondents admitted that they have sacrificed an essential to fund their gambling spending, while 29% of respondents have borrowed money to gamble – with over a third of these respondents admitting to borrowing in the last 30 days.
Of particular concern was that 26% of respondents said they allocate more than 10% of their monthly income to gambling.
“I had my last R200 for transport for the week and I decided to play slots and I lost all of it,” said one respondent.
“Last time I was playing with SASSA money. I lose all that money. I won’t forget that day. Too much pain.”
One positive to come out of the research is that per-bet stakes were found to be relatively low.
Nearly half of all bets were for less than R50, while an additional 35% were between R50 and R100.
As a result, only 18% of bets were for more than R100 – with only 3% of bets exceeding R500.
“This is not a high-roller market. It is a low-stakes leisure market,” said Yazi Research.
Howver, it added that while the low-stakes framing is true based on literal stake size, it remains false when accounting for ‘wallet composition.’
This is because there is a clear trend of bets being funded by rent money, transport money, SASSA grants, debt, and family contributions.
Loot boxes as gambling
Online gambling is not limited to online sports betting sites.
It can also arguably be found in video games, where loot boxes are common place in many of the world’s most popular titles.
MyGaming recently unpacked the complex question of whether loot boxes can be classed as gambling in South Africa.
Using analysis from leading local legal firms, the conclusion was that South Africa’s laws and regulations are too vague to make a definitive statement either way.
However, other countries have taken more aggressive steps against loot boxes.
Belgium has classified buying loot boxes as gambling, while Brazil banned loot boxes in video games likely to be played by children under the age of 18.
Many games have also been forced to disclose the probabilities of getting different items in each loot box, to align with regulations and expectations in major markets.
Despite this, there are few regulations being enforced in South Africa to protect vulnerable parties against the addictive nature of loot boxes.
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