CAPE TOWN — South Africans blew R9,9bn gambling at
casinos, on the horses, bingo and limited-payout
machines in the year to March, a 22% increase on the
R8,1bn they wagered last year, according to the latest
statistics from the National Gambling Board.
This spending represents a significant increase in
income and profits for the country’s big gaming groups
and their empowerment partners, including Sun
International, Peermont Global, Gold Reef Casino
Resorts, Phumelela Gaming and Leisure and Hosken
Consolidated Investments (HCI), all of which have
invested heavily in casinos.
The National Gambling Board’s acting GM of strategic
operations, Michael Burns, said on Wednesday that gross
gambling revenue — casino income after winnings payouts,
but before levies, taxes and operating costs — was a
truer reflection of the amount spent by gamblers than
total turnover, which contains some double counting
because gamblers often used some of their winnings to
bet again.
The return to punters is determined by legislation, and
although it varies slightly from province to province it
is generally about 80% at casino tables, about 85% at
slot machines and about 75% on horse racing and
totalisators because of their higher operating costs.
The board’s figures show that Gauteng takes 44% of gross
gambling revenue, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and Western
Cape with 16% each. Casinos account for 87,6%, or
R8,7bn, of revenue from gambling, followed by the horse
racing and totalisator industry with 11,9%, or R1,2bn.
Bingo and limited payout machines garner only 0,2% and
0,3% of gross gambling revenue respectively, but limited
payout machines have made phenomenal progress in the two
provinces where they have been established in the past
couple of years.
In Mpumalanga, where these machines have been available
for the full 12 months to end-March, revenue rose 24% to
R6,25m by the end of March from R5,02m at the end of
June.
In Western Cape, revenue from limited payout machines
quadrupled to R7,6m in the fourth quarter from R1,9bn in
the third quarter, as more machines were introduced.
In the limited-payout machine industry, Vukani Gaming,
which is owned by HCI, has now secured licences in three
provinces — Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
Strong consumer spending on gambling is reflected in the
profits posted by major listed companies. Sun
International recently reported that fully diluted
headline earnings a share rose 61% in the six months to
December over the year before, after a 19% increase in
gaming revenues.
Gold Reef grew headline earnings a share 46,4% in the
year to December — its sixth successive year of growth
in headline earnings — while Peermont Global grew
headline earnings 24,6% in the same period.
Charlotte Mathews
Consumer Industries Editor
Absolute
Slots
