Chris van Gass

Cape Correspondent

CAPE TOWN - Gambling fever appears to be biting fewer South Africans compared with five years ago, but spending on gambling increased from just less than R9bn in 2003 to R11,6bn last year.

A study by Unisa's Bureau of Market Research on the socio-economic effect of gambling in SA showed that participation in the national lottery had declined from 71% in 2002 to 46% last year.

Gamblers visiting casinos declined from 19% in 2001 to only 7% in 2005.

"Overall, South Africans who did not participate in any forms of gambling increased from 43,2% in 2002 to 50,2% last year," said National Gambling Board chairman Chris Fismer, who presented the findings of the study, commissioned by the board and conducted among 3100 respondents, at the board's biennial gambling conference in Cape Town yesterday.

He said the research suggested the South African gambling market had matured between 1997 and 2002.

"Not only has the novelty effect to some extent worn off, but South Africans are better educated today about gambling, and have come to understand that it is a form of recreation and entertainment," said Fismer.

"Their expectations now are much more realistic about winning."

He said 80% of South Africans either found gambling acceptable, or had no objection to gambling by others, while 19% were opposed to gambling.

"This suggests a pleasingly high level of public confidence in the strict regulatory regime which exists in SA," he said.

Tibbs Majake, CEO of the board, said the percentage of household expenditure allocated to gambling in SA stood at 1,7%. This was lower than Asian countries (3,7%) and Australia (3,4%), and on par with the US, Europe and the UK.

He said 45,8% of South Africans bought national lottery tickets and 7,8% bought scratch cards, while 7,1% gambled at casinos.

Of those who bought lottery tickets, just less than half (45%) bought tickets twice a week while 27% bought them once a week, 10% once every two weeks and 10% once a month.

Majake said the board was concerned that less affluent South Africans constituted about a quarter of the gambling market.

Of those in the survey earning less than R1000 a month, the majority (73,3%) bought lottery tickets or scratch cards (15,3%).

Of this market, 6,4% visited casinos, 3,2% bet on horses and 1,2% gambled on limited payout machines.

"Similar percentages applied to those unemployed people who regularly gamble," said Majake.

He said South Africans spent R11,6bn on gambling last year, representing 0,9% of gross domestic product - up from just less than R9bn in 2003.

Casinos accounted for 70%, the lottery and scratch cards nearly 22% and horse racing 6%.

He said the growth in gambling in SA had stabilised, and that future growth would follow movements in personal disposable income.

Derek Auret, CE of the Casino Association of SA, said the findings vindicated the "considerable investment" the gambling industry had made in public education since 2000, chiefly through the national responsible gambling programme.