Ayabulela Quzu wrote about South Africa’s gambling boom and the responsibilities of capital in the FM.
On Facebook, reader Keith Harvey responded:
The problem was warned of in the Wiehahn Report in the early 1990s — when the legalisation of gambling in greater South Africa (outside Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) was first mooted — namely, “an overstimulation of the latent demand for gambling”.
It was therefore sought to make gambling available but to avoid impulse gambling. The number of casinos was limited so that people would need transport to get there. Unlimited slots were only allowed in casinos. Outside casinos, only limited slots, limited in stakes, payouts and numbers, were allowed.
Unfortunately, this carefully worked-out scheme was abandoned. First “electronic bingo terminals” ... were allowed to proliferate where they were far more accessible, bringing what appeared to be unlimited gambling machines much closer to more people.
Then bookmakers were allowed to take bets on casino games, again something that was not originally intended. Now every cellphone has become a mini casino.
Gambling was intended to bring jobs, taxes and infrastructure. This was why casinos were required to create costly must-see, must-do attractions, tourism infrastructure, hotels, conference centres, and so on. Casino floors create few jobs — it is the packaging that creates jobs. The average bingo hall creates about as many jobs as a Spur. The reduction in revenue has caused casinos to close the more costly elements, with some casinos becoming “gambling floors” in shopping centres!
So much gambling, less must-see, must-do and few jobs, with the only beneficiaries being operators who needed far less capital expenditure, and the government, which benefits from increased taxes.
On X, @Brandon2H added: “Online gambling in South Africa is based on habit and desperation. Many people approaching retirement know that their investments will be heavily taxed once drawn on and Eskom and health-care costs will increase excessively in the next 10 years, making survival very difficult.”
On Natasha Marrian’s story about the “Battle of the blueprints for South Africa’s broken municipalities”, Mr Abrahams wrote:
Turn manifestos into measurable contracts. Every major promise should have a precise outcome, a baseline, a target, a deadline, an identified implementing institution, a cost, a funding source and measurable annual milestones.
The Finance Ghost wrote about how “the Salesforce share price was up 75% from the lows of June 2026, and the company has recovered all its year-to-date losses. The market seems to be elevating Salesforce above the SaaSpocalypse narrative that is still plaguing companies such as Adobe and Intuit.”
Luca Botha replied on X: “Nice. It’s so interesting to me how market moves are often exaggerated and you can make money by simply waiting for the exaggeration to calm down.”
Last week’s Fox Trending piece noted that corporate profits and margins were hitting record highs globally and in emerging markets, but that jobs were still declining in South Africa. We asked why aren’t workers sharing in the boom?
On X, @CVQuest said: “Companies are driving margin growth through automation and lean operations rather than expanding headcount. The demand in South Africa has shifted heavily towards specialised skill sets over general volume hiring.”
@mommy_moneyza added: “Maybe we should reflect why Sars didn’t adjust the tax brackets for two consecutive years for inflationary adjustments, which then reduced take-home pay. They only did it [tax bracket adjustment] for this year. Also, the more you pay an individual, the more the government takes in taxes, so it seems pointless — rather, give employees shares and pay less taxes in dividend payouts. Did the FM account for that?”
