As we reflect on the year 2022, we want to take a look back at the significant changes and events that occurred within the South African betting industry, and what to expect in 2023. This past year was a particularly interesting one for both players and betting sites in South Africa, as there were many noteworthy changes and shifts that took place. We will be discussing some of the highlights of these developments in the following retrospective.
The shift to online slot games
Online slot games were the biggest change that we saw over the course of the year. Before 2022, only a handful of South African betting sites offered slots, with Hollywoodbets Spina Zonke as the leading brand. During the course of the year, nearly all major sites followed suit, and now you’d be hard-pressed to find a site that doesn’t offer slots.
The Habanero and Pragmatic Play slots are a particular favourite of slot players, and we recently ran a poll that had Habanero come out on top, followed by Pragmatic Play. The Evolution slots came in third, which was interesting, as most new betting sites offer Evolution, but very few offer a mix of Habanero, Pragmatic Play, and Evolution.
Casino games have also found a home at most bookmakers, and cash out games like Aviator are also slowly being introduced to more sites. This will continue to grow in 2023, and it seems like there has been a major pivot from sports to casino games over the last year.
The launch of new betting sites
One of the more interesting points of 2022 was the launch of dozens of new licensed betting sites, we’re sure the World Cup and the appetite for slots drove much of their launches, but are there now too many betting sites for players to choose from?
The market has long been dominated by the likes of Hollywoodbets and Betway, who offer a very compelling product that is incredibly popular with players, and it’s very hard to see new entrants taking up too much market share considering that there are almost too many to choose from. The average South African online gambler also doesn’t spend all that much on gambling, less than R500 according to a poll we ran, so they don’t really have too much money to spread around, plus we’re in very tough economic times.
You’d think that more choice is great news for the players, but many new betting sites are simply following the example set by the big guns, and few offer anything truly innovative. It’s going to be interesting to see how long they last, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few sites close their doors during the course of 2023.
Hollywoodbets Horse Racing Takeover
It’s been a big year for Hollywoodbets, who have always been passionate about Horse Racing. They have taken over the Sponsorship role of the Durban July, and their hosting of the 2022 Durban July was world class.
Hollywoodbets have also managed to become the title sponsor of the Kenilworth and Durbanville courses, something which is great news for racing fans. They’ve injected new life into the tracks and events, which was desperately needed. We visited the July, Kenilworth and Durbanville for events, and Hollywoodbets have done a great job, bringing back the buzz that’s been missing from racing for so long.
The Cape Town Met still falls under the WSB banner, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Hollywoodbets took that title in the coming years. We don’t see Betway letting go of their Summer Cup sponsorship anytime soon, as they’ve also been making some good inroads into Horse Racing.
The World Cup
The 2022 World Cup was one of the highlights of the sports calendar, and was ultimately won in dramatic fashion by Argentina. From a betting perspective local betting sites really dropped the ball when it came to the World Cup. There was a noticeable lack of quality World Cup promotions, and only a handful of sites had anything decent on offer.
While the World Cup was great to watch, it also came at a strange time for punters, smack bang in the middle of the Premier League season. Usually the World Cup takes place at the end of the European season, giving players something to get excited about when there wasn’t much else on.
We’d be interested to see what betting volumes sites saw during the World Cup, and we’d hazard a guess that the Premier League would bring in more bets over a similar period.
A look ahead at 2023
It’s tough to say what 2023 has lined up for sports and casino players, as well as betting sites. We’re confident that the popularity of online casino slots will continue to rise, and that more sites will have a wider variety of games on offer.
There will likely be even more betting sites opening up shop, and it’s going to be fascinating to see which ones manage to stay afloat in what is a highly competitive market.
We’d like to close off this retrospective with a big thanks to all the Best Sports Betting readers for all the support, hopefully 2023 is the year of the punter!