South Africa is a nation with more than its fair share of glittering casinos. From the famous Gold Reef City Casino near Johannesburg to Cape Town’s huge GrandWest Casino it seems that the Rainbow Nation is a country that loves to try its luck on classic games like roulette, blackjack and slots.
However, the online revolution has brought in a number of changes that have transformed the way in which South Africans carry out a number of activities, and casino gaming is no different. In the past decade, improving technological infrastructure has meant that more casino fans are starting to find favour in the digital alternative to traditional gambling establishments.
Much of this can be put down to the sheer convenience that the new wave of online casino sites offer. Not only can South Africans enjoy playing a wide variety of casino games from a desktop or a laptop computer, but these gaming sites also attract a large proportion of mobile customers.
A report made by the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa in April 2019 stated that the nation’s smartphone penetration has doubled in two years. This means that 80% of the population now have access to a smartphone which means that most people now have a portable gaming platform in their pockets.
Many South Africans will play popular mobile games, and according to Applyzer website, these tend to be titles like Minecraft, Plague Inc and Candy Crush Saga. However, as gaming audiences mature, there are signs that more people are starting to play adult-orientated games that you would usually find in a casino.
Traditional table games like roulette and blackjack are fairly popular for South Africa’s mobile gamers, but there are growing signs that it is slots games that are the preferred gaming options. This could be a result of the fact that slots games are incredibly fast and simple to play. Rather than needing to get involved in a long card game contest, anybody can simply load up a slots game and know if luck is on their side in less than a minute.
This is because most online slots are purely games of chance. Despite this, there are still valuable resources on the internet here that can provide gamers with some simple tips and strategies to use to win a larger proportion of online slots games that they play.
But if slots games are purely dependent on chance, then how do gamers know that they are getting a fair result? The best way to check is to see whether the casino site has a relevant license for allowing online gambling in South Africa.
Thankfully, there is now a broad choice of providers who are fully licensed and display the necessary credentials from organisations like eCOGRA to ensure that all of their slots games produce a fair and transparent result that is based on a random number generator.
But as online slots gaming has become increasingly popular across the Rainbow Nation there have been concerns raised about the issue of problem gambling. As a result, key institutions like the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation have been set up to ensure that all citizens get the tools necessary to keep their casino gaming under control.
The project has already come to the aid of 18,500 problem gamblers so far, and they have been working with organisations such as the South Africa National Gambling Board to ensure that the new slots gaming phenomenon is something that doesn’t become problematic.
For most South Africans, online slots gaming is merely a form of entertainment. Whilst many headlines have been created out of individuals winning millions on progressive slots games, it is far more common for gaming fans to make modest profits out of these gambling entertainments.
Above all, it seems that online slots gaming is here to stay. Although iconic South African casinos like Gold Reef will continue to draw in the crowds, it’s expected that the online alternative will continue to provide the nation’s gamers with a different way to win big in the future.
