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Gambling in casinos was legalised in South Africa in 1996 with the establishment of the national gambling board with 40 licences issued for casino operaters to open casino resorts in the various South African provinces.
The allocation of licences per province is as follows:
Eastern Cape: 5 |
Free State: 4 |
Gauteng: 6 |
KwaZulu-Natal: 5 |
Mpumalanga: 4 |
Northern Province: 3 |
Northern Cape: 3 |
North West: 5 |
Western Cape: 5
In all the casinos you will have slot machines and various table games. With South Africa's current smoking laws you will find the casinos have seperate smoking areas, where you can generally find both slots and tables.
Most of the casinos will also have a Prive Room, generally in a smoking area, for the more discerning gambler.
Most of the non video type slot machines are in R1.00 denomination, though you will find also R2.00, R0.50 and in some casinos even R0.25 slot machines. In the Prive areas you will find slots from R5.00 and upwards. The new video type slot machines tend be in the region of R0.10 but in the outer areas we have seen them at R0.01 and in the bigger casinos from R0.50.
Table games tend be rather limited - and as far as I know, there is currently only 1 craps table in operation in the whole of South Africa (ridiculous, but true), and poker is very limited - mostly you will find hold em poker (let it ride), and a couple of tables of poker similiar to Caribbian style poker.
The popular tables are blackjack and roulette (with only one 0 wheel and not with the American 00 wheel).
The average blackjack starting bet at the larger casinos is a minimim chip size of R50.00, though some of the casinos still have a few R25.00 tables. You will also find in the general playing areas also R100.00 tables. In the smaller casinos you can find R10.00 tables, but these are getting harder and harder to find, so the novice gambler should read and practice our tips before venturing out to the real world.
Roulette tables average R5.00 for a colour chip, though you will also find R10.00 tables. A few of the casinos have smaller chip sizes available during afternoon midweek play.
Generally the various poker starting chip size is R25.00
Other forms of gambling in South Africa besides casinos are Horse racing and the national lottery. In some of the casinos you will find a Tote section where you can place your horse wagers.
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