STEP 1: Name, ID number, contact details. STEP 2: Address details & FICA documents. STEP 3: Account opened immediately and activated once FICA documents received. Your account will be opened immediately once you have completed STEPS 1 & 2. Non-stop excitement with the look and feel of an online casino combined with continuous live draws. Play Lucky 5, 6 and 7 with draws of the game running every 5 minutes. It’s always an exciting day at the races at Bettabets, with a full spectrum of betting options for most local and international horse races. Enjoy live races on our big.

Background and History of Gambling in South Africa

Gambling has been a part of human civilization for a long time now. It has flourished despite being frowned upon and, in many places, banned. Each geographic location in the world has its own story about gambling and also different forms of gambling. One of the most commonly found gambling activities in many countries worldwide is sports betting and bookmaking related to that. South Africa has an interesting background and history when it comes to sports betting and gambling in general, both traditionally offline and also online.

Gambling itself was hugely restricted in South Africa for a long time, some say since 1673. In terms of gambling in the modern era, things were no different in the 1960s. IN 1965 the government passed the Gambling Act, which effectively banned all forms of gambling. The only activities that were spared the ban was horse racing; it was considered a sport for a long time - more than 30 years - and so was excluded from the ban. That meant the only place people could place bets there was at the races.

The ban gave rise to scores of illegal casinos. A few of the bantustans - also called homelands, which had marginal levels of independence - were the first physical locations where illegal land-based casinos sprung up during that time. These included:

• Bophuthatswana
• Venda
• Ciskei
• Transkei

Things reached a stage where a study in 1995 estimated the presence of close to 2000 illegal casinos in the country. However, change had been in the air for the while and when it finally came, it affected the gambling industry in the country too, in a very positive way.

The 1990s were tumultuous years in the history of South Africa. It signaled the end of the apartheid era and the declaration of official, all-inclusive elections. A new democratic government under the stewardship of the legendary Nelson Mandela was sworn in during 1994. The new government lifted the ban on all forms of gambling. Licensed casinos were established for the first time in 1996, thanks to the passing of the National Gambling Act. A single national lottery was also launched. At the same time, horse racing was declared a gambling activity, which made betting on it legal.

The National Gambling Act distributed 40 gambling licenses among the different provinces and also laid down guidelines for the distribution pattern and set up the National Gambling Board. This board was tasked with stewarding and overseeing the functioning of the country's gambling industry. Further change came along in 2004 with a fresh version of the National Gambling Act being passed and in 2008, the National Gambling Amendment Act was passed.

The amendment in 2008 was necessary because the National Gambling Act of 2004 did not allow for interactive gambling or online gambling, with specific reference to casino games, poker, and bingo. Online gambling for horse racing and also online bookmaking was considered legal as long as the valid licenses are in place and the rules adhered to.

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The current laws in South Africa allow gambling. After the new Constitution was adopted, the country was dividing into 9 provinces. Each of these 9 provinces now has its own gambling and racing board, which function more or less like gambling commissions. All bookmakers and sports betting/casino operators have to obtain licenses from the board in their respective regions to operate casino or bookmaking/sports betting operations. Players have the freedom to choose a bookmaker regardless of geography.

Interestingly, there is no tax when you bet on any of the different sports. And there is no taxation for those engaging in betting as a recreational activity either. However, there is a 6% tax on horse racing. That is why sports betting has become increasingly popular in recent times and horse racing seems to be on a slow downward slide; sports betting does not invite taxation. When it comes to horse racing, the organization that controls most of the betting operations in KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape is Saftote, with Gold Circle conducting the operations. Across the remaining parts of the country, it is done by Phumelela.

Overview of Sports Betting and Bookmaking Licensing Authorities in South Africa

Each of the 9 provinces in South Africa has its own gambling authority. They are listed below:

• Gauteng Gambling Board
• Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board
• Free State Gambling and Racing Board
• KwaZulu-Natal Gambling and Racing Board
• Limpopo Gambling Board
• Mpumalanga Gambling Board
• North West Gambling Board
• Northern Cape Gambling Board
• Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board

Sports betting operators, casino operators, and bookmakers from these provinces have to obtain licenses from their respective licensing authorities to be able to legally provide sports betting and bookmaking to players. Apart from these there are the following 2 authorities as well:

• International Association of Gambling Regulators (IAGR)
• National Gambling Board

Typical Licensing Conditions for South African Sport Betting Licensing Authorities

Each of the licensing authorities for sports betting and bookmaking in South Africa were formed to oversee the different aspects of online and land-based gambling in their respective provinces. These boards were tasked with the functions of:

• Issuing gambling licenses to prospective licensees and renewing existing licenses
• Collecting revenue accrued through taxes, if any, from gambling
• Ensuring conformance by licensees to the regulations laid down

For an operator to obtain a sports betting or bookmaking license from a licensing authority, there are certain conditions laid down by the licensing authority that the operator must fulfill. For instance, if you are an operator looking for a license from the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board (WCGRB), there are extensive terms and conditions that you have to meet. These terms and conditions are laid out in the rules and conditions for licensees that the board lays down. We list a few important ones below.

• Any operator needs at least one of a few kinds of licenses - route operator license, site license, supplier license, etc. - to be able to launch sports betting or bookmaking operations.
• Prospective operators have to prove qualification for license approval before he can be granted one.
• Any permit, licensing, approval, registration, or authorization by the WCGRB is revocable subject to the terms and conditions laid down by the WCGRB. These include providing of false information, failure to furnish full and accurate information, breach of conditions laid down by the board, and more.
• Prior to approval of license, the WCGRB's CEO will publish specific information regarding the prospective licensee in the Provincial Gazette or one of the many other approved print media houses for comments/objections. The license may be granted only if no objections are received. A copy of this is also provided to the relevant local authorities. Any objections or comments have to be sent to the board within 21 days of publication of the notification.
• The board may, at its discretion, provide a specific period of time in which to rectify any circumstances in his application that may have been cause for disqualification.
• An operator may submit for withdrawal of the licensing application only prior to the approval of the said application.
• Once an operator receives an approved license, they have to mandatorily pay the taxes attached to operating a bookmaking or sports betting operation in the province under the laws of the WCGRB.
• The board may, at its sole discretion, terminate an existing license of an operator if he is found to be in contravention or breach of the terms attached to using the license provided for sports betting or bookmaking activities.

List of Current Licensees of South African Provincial Licensing Authorities

Each of the provincial licensing authorities in South Africa has a list of current and existing licensees. Some operators have licenses in multiple provinces, while others have licenses to operate only in specific provinces. All licensees follow the standard procedure laid down by the gambling boards of each province for grant of license, starting with filling out of the form available. We list some of the licensees for the different provinces below.

Hollywoodbets is one of the main sport betting providers in South Africa. It provides some of the best bets on horse racing among the entire country, as well as different offers for bets on more than 20 other different sport types.

Besides an online sport betting platform, including a website and mobile apps, the betting house owns nearly 90 physical departments spread in 6 provinces on the territory of South Africa. Speaking of which, you can register, place bets and receive your profits from your gambling activity at these physical departments, too.

Hollywoodbets is one of the oldest sport betting companies placed in our country. It has started offering bets on horse racing in 1986 year. Also, we need to mention that this betting company’s website for sport gambling is also the oldest one in South Africa. It was developed in 2006 year and currently it also includes many other popular sport types (alongside with the horse racing). Three years later, in 2009 year the betting operator has started developing its own mobile betting platform that includes applications for all mobile telephone types – from the oldest such as Nokia 105 to the most modern smartphones on the market these days.

Joining Hollywoodbets

To join the big community of players in Hollywoodbets you should open the registration page from the button called Join Now in the desktop version and from the Register Now button in the mobile website. Then, you should fill in correctly all the mandatory fields. The fields that are mandatory are marked with a special symbol and they are the following:

• Appeal
• First name
• Last name
• Number of your ID or passport (if you select to fill in the number of your passport you will see an additional field for your date of birth)
• Sex
• Mobile telephone number
• Password

When you fill in all of these fields your registration is going to be completed, but currently at this particular stage your account is going to remain locked or you are not going to be able to use it for gambling.

To unlock your account you should send the mandatory according FICA law documents in order to confirm your identity. You can send a copy of your ID, passport or driving license. When you have to confirm your address, you can send a copy of document for recently paid electricity or other service bill, bank statements, a copy of tenancy agreement or other type of documents that are described in details in the bookie’s website.

When you send the documents from the page called Upload FICA Now and when they are reviewed by the company’s administrative employees, you will receive a bonus gift at an amount of R 100 (below in this article you will find additional information about this bonus, as well as about the rest of the bookie’s promotions).

Transactions in Hollywoodbets

The deposits in Hollywoodbets can be made either in any department owned by the betting house in the country, or directly via the website or the application. For this purpose you should open the red link with text Deposit where you will see three options to perform your financial transaction:

• Deposits via credit card – If you select this method, type the amount of money you want to deposit in the field Amount and then, press these buttons in this order: Submit, Proceed to Secure Credit Card Payment. Then, you will be directly transferred to the page you need to fill in the details of your credit card, as well as one more field where you will make payment confirmation.

• Deposit via Payfast – in case you choose this payment method, you will once again should fill in the field Amount and then, to follow this path of buttons: “Submit“ -> “Proceed to Payfast“. Right after that you will be directly transferred to the Payfast website where you should enter your e-mail address and two names if you use the system for a first time. The next step is to choose your bank and then, to continue to the page for online banking of the concrete bank.
• Deposit via bank transfer – besides via online banking Payfast system offers, you can also send money directly to your Hollywoodbets account via bank wire transfer, as well as by visiting any of the local departments owned by this bank, plus – via an ATM. The bookmaker works with the following banks: Standard Bank, ABSA, FNB and Nevbank.

The only unpleasant thing about the transactions in this gambling operator is the fact that if you make a deposit with your bank card, you cannot make a request to send money back to this bank card when you decide to order a withdrawal. The withdrawals up to R 10 000 are paid in all Hollywoodbets’s departments, while the bigger amounts of money can be sent via bank wire transfer.

What can you place a bet on in Hollywoodbets?

Sport betting in Hollywoodbets

As an officially registered customer in Hollywoodbets you can make online and offline predictions on almost 20 different sport types, but if we need to point out one concrete sport discipline where the betting service is really competitive in comparison to the rest big international gambling website, it should be horse racing. The horse racing has been in the betting company’s core specialization since its existence from the 80s of the previous century and currently, this sport type has been still the main focus in the program.

In this betting website you will find markets on many fests for horse racing based in South Africa, Great Britain, Australia, France, India, Ireland and many others and almost every single day you can invest your money for betting on dozens of races. Among the available markets you will find such for the winner, a bet for the horse to end in the top 3, 4 or 5, as well as many others.
However, you should know that all the winning bets on horse racing in this betting house are taxed with 6% assess. In addition to this, even though in this website there are many horse races from all around the world, the selection of markets isn’t as big as it is in many other websites.

Though, note that the choice of a market in the rest of the sport types like football, for instance, isn’t a problem in this bookmaker. On the contrary – if taking the football section once again as an example, you need to know that the bookie provides more than 100 different bet types for each football event no matter what league (international or European) it comes from. Meanwhile, as to the football, Hollywoodbets fully corresponds to the audience’s expectations regarding one regular local bookie as the company includes bets on all matches from NFD, PSL and SA MTN 8.

From there on, the choice of markets in the rest sport types is a bit more limited or at least if comparing it to the biggest international gambling companies with local versions in our country. Thus, for instance, this local betting operator offers bets for ATP, WTA and Challenger tournaments in tennis, but the biggest bookies in the world usually include in their tennis programs hundreds tournaments of the ITF series, too.

The odds in this betting website are a bit lower, too, but still they remain on a very good and decent level for the market in South Africa. Plus – Hollywoodbets provides odds that leave behind the odds provided by 90% of the rest local sport betting companies.

Live betting

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This bookie surprises us quite pleasantly with its live betting category. The pleasant surprise isn’t by the wide range of events – usually around 50 matches per day and about 100 during the weekends – but by the fact that almost all of these matches are connected to Match Tracker from where you can find out more details than the details you would have found out in case you are by the field as a visitor.

The bookmaker even offers live streaming for several matches per day – mostly basketball events.

In Hollywoodbets live category we find one very convenient function which cannot be seen in most of the rest betting website. We are talking about the program with all of the matches for the rest of the day and for the next 7 days, so this is how you can easily make plans for your betting activity in advance.

Lottery games

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In the category called Lucky Numbers you can place bets on numbers that are drawn in the lotteries based in more than 50 different countries from all around the globe. You are not going to participate in the jackpot distribution for each of the lotteries, but you will instead, place bets on odds that are preliminary determined by Hollywoodbets and all of the eventual profits are going to be also paid by the bookie. It’s just Hollywoodbets uses the lotteries as independent – third-party – sources for results.

In addition to this, the games that are of a lottery type can be found in the category called Betgames Africa. This category, by the way, was developed by the homonymous company and it offers live drawing in two games – 5 from 36 and 7 from 42.

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Does Hollywoodbets offer any bonuses?

We have already told you that the bookmaker will reward with R 100 as a bonus after sending the FICA documents, but note that this isn’t the only bonus you will get here.

Hollywoodbets will also give you R 50 as a bonus for every friend you invite on the betting website. What is required for this bonus is your friend to register, pass the FICA verification and then, to make at least one deposit of a minimum amount R 50.
Also, the gambling operator has three promotions for football fans:

• WIN – R1 Million in Prizes – This promotion is a form of lottery where all customers who have places at least one online bet at a minimum amount R 30 on football match and have sent the number of the ID document with which they have registered on the page (ID or passport) in a form of SMS message to this phone number: 45294. The prizes are at a total amount of 1 million of Rand and they are money, free trips and three Nissan NP200 Bakkies.

• Soccer Bonus Bonanza – Here’s one more bonus that is specially tailored for the bookie’s website and that isn’t available for the punters who bet in the physical departments or via the bookie’s call centre. This bonus is calculated over profit of the multiple bets and it can reach up to 30% an increase of your final profit.

• Soccer Money Back Promotion – If you have a multiple bet with at least 8 selections at minimum odds 6.00 and all of your matches turn out to be winning – beside the last one – you will get your invested money back.

Yet, the best bonus in this betting platform is the new customer bonus which is R 100 and which is a no-deposit bonus. You probably know that most online bookies have new customer offers, but in almost all of these offers the requirement for the punters is to make a deposit at first, while here you get your bonus immediately!

Hollywoodbets contact details – Customer support service

Hollywoodbets has accounts in all leading social webs – Facebook, Tweeter and Instagram – from where you can connect the specialists who work for the bookie. You can do the same by giving a call on this telephone number: 087 353 7634. On the other side, if you want to place a bet via telephone number, use this one – 087 353 7633. Unfortunately, the bookmaker still doesn’t offer a live chat.