How to find the best SA sites
We’ve tested hundreds of South African real money online casinos to bring you a definitive list of the best sites out there. So, apart from the currency (the South African Rand), what are our criteria for evaluating SA internet casinos?
Popular games
When you visit a real money online casino, you are, of course, interested in playing some exciting games. Slot machines are extremely popular whether you enjoy playing a traditional fruit machine or a state-of-the-art video slot with hundreds of winning options. Or you may fancy a game of roulette, blackjack, craps or baccarat. In some online casinos accepting South African players, you can even enjoy live dealer games with a real dealer. Craps is another popular game, as are video poker slots. We make sure that all the SA internet casinos we recommend have a large selection of fabulous games you can enjoy playing for real or play money.
Welcome bonuses
The majority of SA online casinos will offer you a welcome bonus when you hop online and make your first Rand deposit. Some also have a reward programme and a variety of promotions for regular South African casino players. We investigate and evaluate each site's bonus programme before we recommend it to you on Casino.org.
Deposit and withdrawal limits
The range of deposit options is very important, as are easy, fast and simple cashout methods. In our tests we make sure that a casino online provides a variety of deposit and payout options suitable to South African gamblers. We also investigate how long a payout will take as you want to get hold of your winnings in the shortest possible time.
Customer support
We place great emphasis on friendly and well-informed customer service agents and on how easy it is to contact them. The online casinos for SA gamblers we have tested provide excellent customer service and can be contacted 24/7 by phone, live chat or email.
Software
We know that you want to enjoy your gaming experience. Our team of online gambling experts has tested all of the games of the casinos online we recommend to South African players on this site. We can confirm that all of our top picks have excellent software and use the latest technology so your games will run smoothly. You usually have the option to either download the entire casino software or play a certain amount of games in your browser. Many SA online casinos also cater for mobile gamers, so you can enjoy all of your favourite games on your cellphone or tablet.
Safety
Safe and fair gambling as well as data protection is one of our main concerns when we evaluate a casino online for South Africa. We make sure that all the sites we recommend are safe places to play and have certificates from independent auditors as well as the highest standards of data protection online.
The best cellphone casinos in SA
Our top recommended online casinos for South African players not only take into consideration the best ones to play from your PC at home, but also the casinos that offer the best in mobile gaming too. Regardless of whether you're the owner of a Samsung or Apple device, you'll find great mobile casino options.
For a lot of South African players, being able to log on and access an online casino from an Android or iOS device is an important criteria of the one they choose to open an account with. Part of our vetting process of casino site apps that accept SA players is to also test out which ones offer a reliable, secure, and enjoyable cellphone casino experience as well.
All of the best online casinos we rate as being top for SA players also ranked highly in mobile gaming during our reviews process. Either having a mobile version of the casino which is optimized for smartphone devices, or offering an app which can be downloaded for free to your cellphone. Luckily, no one has to feel left out as avid Apple fans can enjoy casino play on both their iPhone and their iPad with iOS friendly apps.
When it comes to betting with your real Rand and accessing your account data on open networks it's imperative that you can trust the cellphone casino app to encrypt your personal information. Our recommendations for mobile casinos only ever feature the developers and sites that use the most up to date security software. This ensures safety and simplicity when it comes to playing your favourite online casino games while out and about.
Brief history of SA gambling
Our country loves gambling. In fact, we have the highest number of land-based ones compared to other African countries. Nowadays, however, many South African gamblers also want to enjoy SA online casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette, baccarat or craps without leaving home. In other words, people want to participate in internet casino gaming.
Although the National Gambling Act was passed in 2004 to protect players at online casinos from rogue sites and help control problem gambling, opinion changed in the interim years. In 2010 a South African High Court ruling imposed considerable restrictions on the country's Internet gambling industry.
However, in mid-2011, SA casino players were overjoyed to learn that internet gaming was open once more. South Africa has a reputation of being a responsible gaming jurisdiction and the new regulations ensure that this reputation is maintained. As a result, SA gamblers now have a huge choice when finding real money action using Rand on the Internet.
Because we value licencing and regulation as much as every other South African casino player, we only recommend websites that are licenced by international regulatory bodies. This means you won't have to worry about whether the SA casino site you're playing at is reputable and you'll never have to second - guess whether your credit card information and personal details are safe and secure.
Remember there's several top quality live casinos you can try in the country too. We've put together this great guide to SA brick and mortar casino venues, which includes an interactive map to help you find one local to you.