Find the best bookmakers for betting on soccer in South Africa as we compare the sportsbooks with the highest odds, live streaming, free bets, and much more.
Sports fans looking for soccer betting sites in South Africa to join have a lot of choice and it can be difficult to decide which one to sign up with an account at - so here are the best to consider.
Well-known to soccer fans in South Africa due to sponsoring Premier League side West Ham, Betway has a Data Free offering that means players on mobile devices can save all their data.
This online bookmaker also has a Four To Score predictions game as well as various soccer betting promotions such as refunding up to 20x the stake of accumulator bets if one leg loses.
Betway SA is licensed and regulated by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board and it has a top range of live in-play soccer betting markets, as well as pre-match wagers too, for its users.
Arguably the best known South African online bookmaker is Hollywoodbets, which has betting shops around the country and sponsors a pair of top racecourses.
While horse racing is considered the main sport at Hollywoodbets, soccer is not left behind with users of this site able to win up to 10x their stake back in the event of one leg of an accumulator bet letting them down.
Various leagues played in Africa are available to bet on at Hollywoodbets, along with all the top global competitions such as the European Championship and the Champions League as well.
Soccer is one of the main sports to bet on at World Sports Betting, which has an R50 free bet welcome bonus up for grabs to tempt South African sports fans into signing up for an account. Like at Bet.co.za, World Sports Betting has enhanced odds for sports like football, which ensures users can get some excellent value from their soccer betting wagers on this site.
A massive range of games are covered for in-play soccer betting at WSB, with live stats available to help players to decide what they are going to bet on during a game.
Soccer is one of the most popular sports in South Africa, so it stands to reason that it will be one of the top sports to bet on in the country as well.
A truly global sport, there are almost always matches being played somewhere on the planet, with tournaments and leagues around the world among those that South Africans can bet on.
Domestic football is big in South Africa too and the top online bookmakers in the country usually have a solid range of markets to pick from for games involving teams such as Kaizer Chiefs.
Although soccer betting in South Africa is very popular, many sports fans in the country may not yet have tried it for themselves and are therefore unsure about how to get up and running. To help those people, we have put together our complete guide to soccer betting in South Africa.
Betting on sport has been around for a long, long time. And with soccer being one of the oldest sports in the world, people have been gambling on the outcome of games for over 100 years.
Like in other sports, soccer betting essentially boils down to people trying to predict the outcome of what will happen out there on the pitch. Pre-match betting is still the most common type of soccer betting but increasingly live in-play betting is getting more popular in South Africa too.
Soccer is a very fast-moving sport, which helps to make it particularly exciting to bet on. It is particularly unpredictable as well, with shock results relatively common. Even if a team is much better on paper, with more high-quality players, there is no guarantee that they will win a game.
In South Africa, online sports betting is now legal, which means people do not have to worry about any legal issues when they place a wager on the big game of the day. Plenty of soccer betting bookmakers are available, with South Africans able to make the most of welcome bonuses when they sign up for an account. Free bets and deposit bonuses are now commonly up for grabs, with betting sites in competition with each other to sign up new users.
Creating an account is a short, simple process even though South Africans also need to provide some verification documents - known as FICA - in order to get started with soccer betting. They will then have a wide choice of online payments to pick from, like a wire transfer, debit cards, e-wallets or even cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin to make their first deposit into an account.
Once funds have been added to a South African betting site, soccer fans just need to decide what they want to bet on. Some people use soccer betting tips to help them to make a selection.
Once they have made up their minds, they set the stake and confirm the bet, just like in other sports. Many top South African online bookmakers also have a cash-out option, which gives their customers a chance to lock in some guaranteed profit before the game is even over.
After deciding which online bookmaker to join, South African sports fans might be tempted to read up on some soccer betting tips and strategy before starting to place wagers. The good news is that there are lots of soccer betting tips out there, but on the flip side it is difficult to know which advice and predictions are going to be the most accurate and are worth following. Some soccer betting tips do keep track of how their experts are performing, so keep an eye on these.
Some people swear by a soccer betting strategy and this can be useful for a lot of betting site customers. For example, it can pay off to specialise in a certain league or competition. This makes it easier to keep track of things like the latest injury news, which will affect the odds of each game, while lower-profile matches often have much better value odds available too. With so much football played around the world, it is virtually impossible to be an expert on all of it. As a result, some South Africans may benefit from sticking to the teams and leagues they know.
Others find that placing most of their wagers in a certain type of market is their route to potential profits from bets. Both teams to score is a market that some people trust in their soccer betting strategies, but others can work too. One potential soccer betting strategy that can help people to win big is to back a correct score, then cash out if that score happens at any point in the game. For example, backing a team to win 1-0 might enable people to lock in a guaranteed profit once they score the opening goal of the game, even if there is a lot of time still on the clock.
Using soccer betting promotions is a good idea for South African sports fans. Those yet to join a sports betting site will probably be able to get a free bet or a deposit bonus in exchange for signing up for an account. This can offer a chance to win real cash with no risk involved. Free bets are also commonly given out by operators as a way to reward the loyalty of their customers, which of course also encourages them to come back to the site again and again.
Typical soccer betting promotions include acca insurance, which is in place at many SA online bookmakers and gives players back their stake - or a portion of it - if they place a multiple bet that is let down from winning by a single leg. Hedging may also be possible in these situations.
In soccer betting, hedging is a term used to describe covering all of the available options. Obviously, this is not profitable pre-match as the bookmaker will retain a margin when they are calculating the odds that they make available. However, for multiple bets like accumulators, hedging can come into play when some of the early legs land. Players may be able to cover all of the bases for the remaining games to make sure they get a positive return from their stake.
Other golden rules of online gambling are the same for soccer as they are for other sports. It is a good idea to set a budget for soccer bets. This should never be more money than a player can afford to lose if all their wagers do not come off. Many of the top South African online betting sites have great responsible gambling policies now, with features such as deposit limits widely available. It is always well worth making the most of these deposit limits at sports betting sites due to the fact that sticking to a budget helps to keep a person's gambling under close control.
It is not uncommon for a big game in a competition like the English Premier League or the Champions League to have hundreds of different markets on sports betting sites.
However, here are some of the most common soccer betting markets - and what they mean:
Elizabeth Marole is responsible for content on BettingGuide ZA. She has prior experience as a math teacher and plays poker professionally when not writing for BettingGuide. Please contact her for any inquiries regarding gambling in South Africa.