Online Casino South Africa – The 2024 selection

South Africa is famous for a lot of things such as wildlife, biltong, constant sunshine, and so much more. But I bet you’d never guess that casinos and online gambling were big in South Africa! It’s true, South Africa has some of the best real life casinos in the Southern Hemisphere and the online casino South Africa scene isn’t too shabby either!
The expert team at Veritop have actually been to South Africa, many a time. We’ve visited Monte Casino, played at the Carousel, Emperor’s Palace, Carnival City and we’ve even hit The Boardwalk Casino in Port Elizabeth. South Africa is a mecca for gambling, and a lot of that atmosphere, vibe and attitude has made its way into the online gambling world for South African players too.

Our Veritop team wants to ensure that you’re able to access those casinos when you’re visiting South Africa. But we also want to make sure that as a South African player or any player in South Africa, you’re able to access the best sites too. Any online casino South Africa offers should be available to you too. It should be as easy as jumping into your car and driving down the road to Monte!

We have you covered right here because not only can we give you advice on the best places to play when you’re visiting Cape Town, we can guide you toward the best spots in Johannesburg, Durban and anywhere else too. On top of that, if you happen to be sitting at home, being let down once again by load shedding, we can give you the best sites that accept South African players on mobile. They’ll keep you busy, provide you with hours of entertainment and best of all, won’t use much of your airtime.

How Do We Rate Online Casinos?

Online casinos are fantastic but it’s important to know that the casinos you’re playing at will accept players in South Africa. Better yet, you want them to accept Rand too. With the fluctuating prices of the exchange rate, it’s so much easier to stick with the currency you know, rather than converting to Dollars or Pounds. We will give those casino options to you right now, no frills, no fuss. We don’t take any money on the sly, nor do we do favors for casinos that ask!

Our methods are strict, but fair. We have a stringent process that we use when we rate and review every online casino in South Africa. Whenever you pick a site from our list you will know that the site offers a good variety of online casino games, plenty of bonuses to boost your bankroll, and be offered safety and security especially where your personal information is concerned.

• Payment Options

It can be scary as a player in South Africa with Rands as not all banks will accept PayPal and some of them don’t even like to deal with straight forward online casino payments! We take all of the worry out of that and ensure that every payment option that we offer to SA players is available, safe and secure. With everything from prepaid cards to cryptocurrency, we’ll have you covered.

• Bonuses and Promotions

You should never consider a bonus to be free money, the truth is, it’s not. You’re not able to put that money in your bank or your hands unless you’ve met the strict wagering requirements. Instead, you should think about casino bonuses as big additions to your bankroll, allowing you play more, for longer. We’ll give you sites that offer the best promotions so you can spend more time playing and less time worrying.

• Security and Safety

We know how hard it can be to stay safe in South Africa, but you should never be affected by safety and security online. We take the worry out of your online lives at least, by only offering you sites that you can trust. They’ve all been licensed and regulated and have strict rules and regulations in place to ensure you’re always protected. Whether it’s your banking info or your personal info, you’ll have peace of mind.

• Trustworthy Software

Each and every online casino on our top list has at least one very trustworthy source of online casino games. The software is perhaps one of the most important parts of an online casino and that’s why it’s really important to know where all those games come from, how they are made and if they are balanced and fair. All trustworthy software providers need to undergo strict RNG tests, and we’ll only pick sites that have these approvals.

• Licensing and Regulation

Online casinos can appear as quickly as they can disappear and that’s why it’s important to make sure that sites you play at are licensed and regulated. Every casino on offer to South African players at Veritop will have a reputable source for adequate licensing, and be bound by strict codes of ethics and law.

• Customer Support

South Africans know a thing or two about customer service and that’s something that permeates through to the customer support of online and real-life casinos. In terms of online sites, every online casino we list has a bunch of contactable methods where users can speak to a real person to dive into any problems that they may have. With our choices though, you might not even need to use them!

The Top Online Casinos for SA Players

All South African players know how popular games like blackjack and poker are, but they’re especially popular in SA. We all remember the adverts from Piggs Peak Casino which has, since then, actually shut down. But online casinos in SA are thriving and while you’re not meant to be playing at online casinos located in SA, the ones that offer gambling in Rands are based outside the country. That means you can play there!

Another crowd-pleaser are the slots! Who can forget the chiming of the slots as soon as someone has hit a big win? Those big wins also come in very often at online casinos and those wins are helped by claiming a great online bonus at a top SA casino.

We know that sometimes the most basic of things can be a little hard to come by. There’s expensive online data costs that we know can be tough to get around, sometimes the power will go out, and sometimes your internet connection at home might just shut down from a thunderstorm. This is why we have put a focus on getting online casinos on our list that are friendly to mobiles, with games that use hardly any bandwidth.

Not only do our top online casinos cater to South Africans on mobile with mobile data in mind, but you’ll also be able to play the games on desktop too. These sites are responsive and can be played on almost any type of mobile and tablet.

SA Sites and Their Differences

Many of the online casinos in SA will have a distinct flavor to them. Most times, it’s a site with some form of animal print all over it, the iconic Springbok, or a green and gold theme. We don’t feel like any of this is representative of a good South African experience to our users.

Instead of us looking at the pretty colors and different wildlife logos across the internet, the Veritop team likes to dive deep into the online casino and test it from as many angles as possible. We look into payment options, we read about the wagering requirements attached to bonuses, and we play the games ourselves with our own money, using Rands wherever possible.

The difference between any site catering to SA players and a truly South African site is actually so clear, it’s almost like day and night. If you know South Africa as a country, then you can easily see the appeal for SA users as they offer things far more useful than a green and gold color scheme, but truly convenient local things that SA players will enjoy.

Getting a Local Bonus at South African Casinos

The South African saying goes, “local is lekker”. Directly translated, “lekker” means either something tasty or something rather good. Staying local to the country is important to many people who live in the country. As a result of that, you should be wanting a truly local bonus at some of the top South African casinos. And we’re not talking about a handful of Chappies with each deposit!

The first you do when you find an SA casino is look at the bonuses. Don’t be ashamed, we all do it! The trick is to understand the importance of the bonuses. Going for the site that offers you the largest bonus up front can be great, but sometimes it doesn’t appear to be the most cost-effective measure. The importance in a welcome bonus is the wagering requirement.

Even if your bonus is a few grand that goes straight into your casino account, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not able to claim your winnings. The entire point of playing at an online casino for most South Africans is to pull some hard-earned bucks out at the end of the day. If you deposit R10 as a matched welcome bonus, you’ll get another R10. Your casino account goes up to R20, but if the wagering requirement is 20x, it means you’ll need to spend R400 in order to start withdrawing any winnings!

We know that this may seem a little crazy, but it’s easy to get to that amount should you go on a hot streak. But this is where our team of experts come in. We look at the wagering requirements and decide whether or not it’s worth your time to play at that particular casino with your real money. Once we know the bonus is legit, we’ll recommend it to our users.

Different Bonuses

Whether you’re just starting off at an online casino in SA or have been playing for ages, it’s important to understand what kind of bonuses you can get and which ones will be most beneficial to you and the type of gambling you’d like to do. Bear in mind, online casinos are the only casinos that will offer you bonuses, live casinos won’t offer you such a privilege.

Welcome Bonuses

This is usually the first bonus that any online casino player will get. It’s the first bonus, the welcome bonus, also known as the sign up bonus. This amount will be matched and added to your online casino account balance, and you’ll need to play through it and your own money up to a certain point before you can withdraw any winnings.

We don’t look at sites that offer the largest bonuses, we look at ones that offer the fairest bonuses. These are the ones that will give you the best chance of pulling some real money in Rands out of the casino at the end of the day.

Reload Bonuses

Sticking around is not only important for SA casinos, but it’s a vital aspect for online casinos. They want to keep their new and existing customers around, something that is understandable. And offering bonuses throughout the year on a weekly or monthly basis, is a great way of doing that.

No Deposit Bonus Codes

Some online casinos in SA will offer a no deposit bonus to new users. What this means is that users can head over to their favorite site that we promote on our page, and claim a bonus at a new casino without having to put down a deposit. Usually, these no deposit bonus codes aren’t big in value, but they are a great way to start your online casino experience.

Cashback

We love to take advantage of cash back schemes at online casinos. They are especially helpful when you’ve had a bad run of form and just can’t believe how you keep losing. What will happen is, when you meet a certain set of criteria, you’ll be eligible for a percentage of cashback on money you’ve bet and lost throughout the day. These are a great perk to have as they’ll give you more incentive to play with less drawbacks.

The Most Popular Casino Games in South Africa

We’ve already discussed some of the most popular games in South Africa. This is true not just online but in the brick and mortar casinos too. Every South African loves a good game of Texas Hold’em, in fact, many people in SA love to get together with friends and families on regular occurrences to have a poker night, playing for a few bucks here and there.

While Texas Hold’em isn’t traditionally available at most online casinos, unless you’re playing a tournament, you can still experience poker in some form. Many online casinos have three card poker, an incredibly popular version of the game. However, if poker doesn’t happen to be your thing, SA players love a good hand of blackjack now and then, with roulette and slots coming a close second!

Roulette

As a rule of thumb, French roulette or European roulette is the best variation of the game to play. This is because there is only one zero on the board, meaning your odds are better than if you were to play another version of the game. You’ll watch the wheel spin, the croupier place the ball on the wheel, and then wait for it to land. The corresponding number will then pay out, along with a few additional bets like black or red, odd or even.

Blackjack

Dealers usually stand on 17 in online casino blackjack, so you have a nice advantage there. The goal of the game is to get to 21, without going bust, which is adding up to anywhere past 21. The goal of the game is to beat the dealer.

Baccarat

Players can bet on the player or the banker in this card game and each game that is played will see a single outcome. Whether it’s banker, player or tie, there will be one specific win each time, along with a bunch of other side bets.

Slots

The one-armed bandits are a hugely popular thing in South Africa, and online, it’s a whole lot easier to play them. They have different paylines, wager amounts, wildcards, free spins and so much more.

Using Trusted Providers

While software development in South Africa is taking off, sadly, you won’t find any online casino providers that are typically local. Instead, you’ll need to play the games of international software providers. Don’t feel like that’s a negative thing though, because the online casinos we list on our site are home to some of the best software providers around.

When you start to see providers like Realtime Gaming, a rather popular provider in South Africa, you’ll be in for a treat and others like Playtech, NetEnt and Microgaming are also fantastic too. While there aren’t any local developers, you’ll be at home with a bunch of African themed games that you can play. Either way, all of the software providers that are used at the casinos we have on our list have the correct licensing and have been regulated as needed.

Gambling in South Africa

We’ve taken a look at online casinos in South Africa, and also plan to look at regular casinos in the country too, now it’s time to talk about gambling itself. As long as you’re playing at an online casino that accepts South Africans, you should be safe. There is no legal ramifications, nor has there ever been for SA players playing at online casinos.

What you need to do is just ensure that the banking options you are using will entitle you to deposit and withdraw safely. Make sure your bank allows deposits made to casinos. The legal age for gambling in SA is 18 both in person and online.

There’s also a national lottery in SA called The Lotto, something that happens a couple of times a week and runs in a very similar way to most national lotteries. It’s a millionaire-maker in the country and is hugely popular.

SA’s Real Casinos

Whether you’re in Joburg, Cape Town, Durban or Pretoria, you’ll be able to find a casino that’s nice and close to you. There are some really fantastic places that you can play at, with some offering over 2,000 slots on the casino floors!

When compared to online casinos, the number of slots can sometimes be similar. It all depends on space available at the casino. You won’t find as many table games though, that’s for sure!

Sun City

Sun City is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has the world-famous Gary Player Golf Course and Country Club. The casino has over 800 slot machines with around 35 tables on site. In addition to the casino floors, there’s amazing accommodation and a safari park right on its doorstep.

Monte Casino

Monte is an Italian villa-style theme city that’s all indoors. It’s located in the middle of JHB and has almost 2,000 slots of its own. It has a fair amount of table games, with a focus on roulette and blackjack. It also has 8 poker tables that cater to live tournaments from time to time.

Grand West

The Grand West is one of Cape Town’s bigger entertainment world’s and boasts one of the biggest casinos in the country. With 10 poker tables, almost 80 regular table games and over 2,500 slots, there is 120,000 square feet of casino to enjoy.

Time Square Casino Menlyn Maine

The Time Square Casino in Pretoria is on the door-step of one of the biggest shopping centers in the Southern Hemisphere. There is entertainment, dining options, hotels and events, and the casino itself has 1,800 slot games with a handful of poker tables and 70 different table games.

Emperors Palace

If you’re just dropping into Johannesburg for a short period of time, Emperors is right next to the OR Tambo International Airport. It’s one of the largest land-based casinos in SA and has 15 poker tables, over 50 table games and more than 1,500 slots.