Responsible Gambling Policy

The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF) describes a problem gambler as someone who continues to gamble despite the negative consequences or impact it may have on their and their families lives, and they have no desire to stop. For example, someone who continues to gamble when they’re in debt or facing financial challenges.

The biggest negative effect of gambling is the loss of money. If someone has a gambling problem and loses a great deal of money, this can result in debt, asset loss, bankruptcy, fraud, theft, job loss or poor performance at work, stress and even suicide.

If you as a gambler confirm some of the following warning signs in your gambling behaviour, it could be that you have a gambling problem and you should seek professional help to reduce the stress that is caused by your gambling:

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  Your time and thoughts are always preoccupied by gambling activities;

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  You gamble to relieve a bad mood or to escape problems;

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  You increase the amount of money to gamble with in order to win what you’ve lost previously;

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  You chase after your losses;

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  You have ever lied to anyone about your gambling or hidden it from other people;

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  Your gambling has caused damaging consequences in your family, work, studying or social life;

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  You have unsuccessfully tried to stop your gambling behaviour;

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  You feel restless and irritable when you try to cut down or stop your gambling;

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  You have borrowed or asked for money to gamble with;

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  You have ever done something illegal to get money to gamble or to pay gambling debts.
  

Gambling regulators, such as national and provincial gambling boards acknowledge that gambling has negative effects on society as a whole. However, there are mechanisms in place to counter such problems. The SARGF is the entity which supervises the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) in co-operation with the gambling industry operators and governmental regulators.

The NRGP is a public-private sector initiative. It was founded in June 2000 and is acknowledged internationally to be exceptionally cost-effective and among the most comprehensive in the world. The NRGP deals with problematic gambling tendencies and provides counselling, treatment and education at no cost to the public. The NRGP integrates education, research and treatment into one programme. It is studied by legislators, regulators and academics from international jurisdictions as an example of successful practice. It is regarded, internationally, as the most progressive and one of the best.

Those mechanisms ensure that a person developing problem gambling tendencies excludes themselves from participating in any one of the gambling activities offered nationally. If you think you or someone you know may have a problem, contact the National Responsible Gambling Foundation toll-free helpline on 0800 006 008. Additional resources, including self-help information can be found at www.responsiblegambling.co.za.

The NRGP supports the self-exclusion intervention as stipulated in the legislation. The role that the NRGP plays in this programme is Counselling and Support for the excluded individuals and their immediate family members. It is a legislated programme where a player may wish to exclude him/herself from gambling activities. In terms of the legislation anyone can apply for exclusion. An individual that is excluded from gambling activities cannot take part in any gambling activity for a period of 6 months. During this period of exclusion, the NRGP offers counselling to the excluded individual.

Should you feel that you are spending more money, or betting more often than you are comfortable with, there are steps you can take. The Company offers a self-exclusion facility. Self-exclusion means that your yesplay.bet account will be disabled for a minimum period of 6 months and monies in your account will be returned to you.

The Company will remove your details from mailing lists and other marketing databases. It has a right to block you from online gambling and gambling venues have the right to take reasonable steps to prevent you from gambling.

Safeguards on the sign up and banking processes make it very difficult for any customer to open a duplicate account. Self-exclusion is therefore a very effective way to control gambling that has become a problem for you.

We take stringent steps to ensure that only customers of legal age use our Website, including requesting you to send us a photocopy of your identification documents, such as a driver’s licence or identity card, to verify the age and identity of new customers.

Any personal details we request from you are purely to verify your identity – this is a legal requirement for both your own and our protection.

It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 years to gamble or open an account on gambling websites. To comply with the law, the Company carries out an age verification check on all customers.

If you are worried that someone underage is using our Website, please do not hesitate to contact the customer support team, and we will take the necessary steps. If you share your computer with anyone under the legal age, or anyone who has requested self-exclusion from gambling sites, please consider installing filtering software solutions such as:

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  Net Nanny (www.netnanny.com) filtering software protects children from inappropriate web content;

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  CYBERsitter (www.cybersitter.com) filtering software allows parents to add their own sites to block.

Information regarding your account activity can be viewed online. The information may include: details about your account balance, gambling history (i.e., bet amounts, winnings and losses), deposits, withdrawals and other related transactions.


Last updated: 10.03.2022