|
Chips are down as
SA splurges R13.5bn on Lady Luck
Casinos rake in 15% more despite rate hikes, writes
Lauren Cohen
South Africans spent R13.5-billion
on gambling in casinos in the last financial year, despite
steep hikes in interest rates and increasing food and petrol
prices. Gambling revenue was up 15% from R11.5-billion in
the 2005-06 period at SA’s 33 casinos, according to the
2007 Survey of Casino Entertainment in South Africa. The
report, compiled by the Casino Association of South Africa
(Casa), which represents and promotes the interests of the
country’s legal casino gaming industry, contains statistics
for the 2006/07 financial year and reveals that: Gross gambling
revenue more than doubled in five years; 41% of the spend
was in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape with 18%;
More than 20 million people
visited casinos in Gauteng, while 14.2 million went to KwaZulu-Natal
casinos and 8.9 million to those in the Western Cape; More
than 86% of revenue was generated in casinos and 10.8% on
other forms of betting, and Five new casinos are planned
for SA — one in Gauteng, two in the Northern Cape and two
in the Eastern Cape. T-Sec economist Mike Schussler said
he suspected many people who gambled could not afford it.
“It is one of the strongest
growing industries in the country and I suspect people will
continue spending money on gambling even though they probably
should not.” While the figures at casinos are growing, the
number of people seeking treatment for gambling addiction
has remained constant, say addiction centres. The director
of the Western Cape’s Kenilworth Addiction Treatment Centre,
Dr Rodger Meyer, said the demand for problem gambling counselling,
as reflected in the National Responsible Gambling Programme’s
(NRGP) counselling line statistics, had not increased significantly
in three years, despite the gross gambling revenue rising
by about R1-billion a year. “This suggests the pool of problem
gamblers remains relatively constant and is not dramatically
affected by expansion of the industry. Research by the Bureau
of Market Research, on behalf of the National Gambling Board,
and our own research team at the universities of KwaZulu-Natal
and Cape Town, suggest problem gambling levels dropped between
2003/4 and 2005/6,” he said. Meyer said what had changed
was the degree of damage caused by problem gamblers before
they sought treatment. “Some problem gamblers are now more
reckless in their quest for increasing levels of excitement
derived from the games,” he said.
N RGP executive director
Professor Peter Collins said the rise in gambling revenue
usually tracked leisure and retail spending patterns. “Games
with low stakes which occur infrequently, like the Lotto,
are less risky in principle than high-prize slot machines,
which are the riskiest. “But in South Africa we have a much
higher rate of problem gambling among people who only play
Lotto. The reason is people are superstitious; they buy
more tickets than they can afford and think they will make
their dreams come true.” Collins said 80% of people who
completed the NRGP outpatient treatment programme claimed
they had stopped gambling six months later.
“But only a very small proportion
of poor people seek help, perhaps intimidated by middle-
class professionals who offer the counselling.” Derek Auret,
chief executive of Casa, said that after more than a decade
of legal casino gambling the industry still enjoyed considerable
growth potential. “This is demonstrated by the rate at which
new casinos have come into operation, the continuing expansion,
the refurbishment of existing facilities and their sustained
profitability,” said Auret. Auret said in the 11 years since
South Africa’s first National Gambling Act came into operation,
there could be no doubt that casino gambling had developed
an “enviable reputation as a leisure activity”.
Go
to latest news...
Go
to News Archives...
|
