Limpopo Gambling Board: Licensed Bookmakers and the Public Register

🏛️ South African Gambling Regulators

Limpopo Gambling Board (LGB)

Act 3 of 2013 | Public Licensee Register | Polokwane

Limpopo is the only South African province that publishes its bookmaker licensees online, which makes it the easiest province in the country to verify.

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✅ Why a public register matters

In most provinces, confirming a bookmaker licence means emailing the regulator and waiting for a reply. In Limpopo you can open a web page and read the list. That is the difference between verification being something you intend to do and something you actually do, and it is why we rate Limpopo’s transparency above provinces with far larger gambling economies.

📲 What the LGB licenses and does

• Bookmaker operator and bookmaker site licences: two separate things. The operator licence authorises the business; a site licence covers a specific premises, and relocating one requires a fresh application published in the Provincial Gazette.
• Bingo operator and bingo site licences: subject to public hearings before award.
• Limited payout machines: route and site arrangements, with requests for applications published for public comment.
• Manufacturers: listed publicly alongside the other licensee categories.
• Enforcement: the Board publishes records of illegal gambling activity and of gambling equipment destroyed, which is an unusually concrete form of enforcement reporting.

Public participation is built in: bingo licences go to public hearings, requests for applications are put out for comment, and site relocations are gazetted. Limpopo runs more of its process in the open than most provinces.

⚠️ Retail presence is not the same as licensing province

Several operators we review run betting shops in Limpopo without holding a Limpopo licence for their online product. Topbet is one: it operates retail branches across Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal while its online platform runs under a Western Cape bookmaker licence. Seeing a brand’s shop in Polokwane tells you nothing about which regulator governs its website.

Step 1: Open the Board’s bookmaker list

Go to the Board’s published bookmaker listing and read the licensee name and its branches. Note that the Board’s own URL spells it “bookmarkers”, which is a typo on their side rather than a different page.

Step 2: Check the licensed entities list too

Bookmakers are only one category. The Board also publishes a licensed entities listing and a separate manufacturers listing. If a company is not in the category matching what it is selling you, that is your answer.

Step 3: Confirm operator versus site, and get it in writing

Limpopo separates bookmaker operator licences from bookmaker site licences. Confirm which one you are looking at, then email ceo@lgb.co.za to confirm the licence is current and what activities it authorises. A published listing is a snapshot; written confirmation is authoritative.

🚫 Warning signs of a fake Limpopo claim

• Not on the published list: this is the one province where absence from the register is a real signal, not just an unknown. Ask the Board before you accept the claim.
• A site licence quoted as authority for an online product: a site licence covers a premises. It is not a licence to run a website.
• An offshore licence shown alongside: a Curacao or Anjouan licence next to a claimed SA licence usually means the SA claim is decorative. Our guide to legal online gambling in South Africa covers the difference.
• No FICA at withdrawal: every SA licensed book must verify you before paying out. Our FICA and account verification explainer sets out what to expect.

🛡️ What Limpopo regulation gets you

• A checkable licensee register: the single most useful player protection any provincial regulator can offer, and Limpopo is alone in offering it for bookmakers.
• Published enforcement outcomes: the Board maintains public records on illegal gambling and on gambling equipment destroyed.
• Public hearings on bingo licences and public comment periods on requests for applications.
• Gazetted site changes: a bookmaker relocating a licensed site must apply publicly.
• Mandatory age and identity verification: 18 is the legal minimum and FICA checks are a licence condition, not an operator preference.

The honest limit: the Board regulates the licence, not your individual bet. It can act against a licensee that breaches its conditions, but it will not sit as a small claims court over one disputed wager.

Step 1: Check the register first

Before anything else, confirm on the Board’s published listing that the operator is actually a Limpopo licensee. If it is not, find the regulator named in the operator’s footer and complain there instead. This step is free and it saves weeks.

Step 2: Exhaust the operator’s complaints process

Complain in writing to the operator’s support email, not live chat, and keep the thread. Ask explicitly for a final written response. Chat transcripts disappear; email does not.

Step 3: Build the evidence pack and submit it

You need your full name and account username, the operator’s trading name and licence holding company, the licence details from the register, dated screenshots of the bet or transaction, and the full email thread. Send it to ceo@lgb.co.za and request a reference number. For a problem at a physical branch, name the branch and district as they appear on the register.

Step 4: Escalate nationally where the province cannot act

Where a matter falls outside provincial competence or spans provinces, the National Gambling Board is the national body under the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004. It oversees the national framework rather than replacing provincial licensing.

✅ What to do instead, today

• Call the national line first: 0800 006 008, free and staffed around the clock, or WhatsApp 076 675 0710. They will route you correctly regardless of province.
• Use the statutory register: the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004 provides for a register of excluded persons that licensed operators must check nationally. This binds every licensed operator in every province.
• Ask the Board directly: email ceo@lgb.co.za and request the current self exclusion procedure and form. A written reply also creates your record.
• Exclude at operator level in the meantime: written notice to the operator binds that one brand immediately, which is worth having while the statutory route runs.

For comparison: the Northern Cape and Gauteng both publish full programmes, each running six months with counselling attached. Those pages are useful reading even if your account sits elsewhere, because the shape of the process is similar across provinces.

📜 The framework the Board works under

• Limpopo Gambling Act, 2013 (Act No. 3 of 2013): the operative provincial statute, gazetted 22 August 2014. Bookmaker operator and bookmaker site licences are issued under it, and gazette notices cite it directly.
• Limpopo Gambling Amendment Act, 2016 (Act No. 4 of 2016): gazetted 28 April 2017. The Board publishes the amended sections in blocks, covering definitions in section 1 and sections 33 to 96.
• Regulations and Board rules: published separately on the Board’s site alongside the Acts.
• National Gambling Act 7 of 2004 and Amendment Act 10 of 2008: the national framework covering the National Gambling Board, the register of excluded persons and minimum standards on top of any provincial licence.

Reading older documents: anything predating the 2013 Act refers to the earlier provincial gambling regime. Current gazette notices cite the Limpopo Gambling Act 3 of 2013 by name, which makes them easy to date at a glance.

The National Gambling Board is South Africa’s national regulator. It oversees the framework every provincial board licenses under, and does not issue bookmaker licences itself.

What law does the Limpopo Gambling Board work under?

The Limpopo Gambling Act, 2013 (Act No. 3 of 2013), gazetted on 22 August 2014, as amended by the Limpopo Gambling Amendment Act, 2016 (Act No. 4 of 2016), gazetted 28 April 2017. The National Gambling Act 7 of 2004 applies on top of it.

Does Limpopo publish a list of licensed bookmakers?

Yes, and it is the only South African province in our coverage that does so for bookmakers. The Board publishes a bookmaker listing naming the licensee, each licensed branch, its district and its operational status, alongside separate listings for licensed entities and manufacturers.

Which bookmakers hold a Limpopo licence?

The Board’s published register lists Hollywood Sportsbook Limpopo (Pty) Ltd with eleven operational branches across the Capricorn, Waterberg, Vhembe, Mopani and Sekhukhune districts. That is a retail licence. None of the online bookmakers we have registered with and tested hold a Limpopo licence for their online product.

What is the difference between a bookmaker operator licence and a site licence?

An operator licence authorises the bookmaking business itself. A site licence covers a specific licensed premises, and moving one requires a fresh application published in the Limpopo Provincial Gazette. A site licence is not authority to run an online sportsbook.

Does having a betting shop in Limpopo mean an operator is Limpopo licensed?

Not for its online product. Several brands run retail branches in Limpopo while their websites operate under another province’s bookmaker licence. Topbet, for example, has retail branches across Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal but runs its online platform under a Western Cape licence. Always read the footer.

How do I self exclude from gambling in Limpopo?

The Board has a self exclusion page but, as at 28 July 2026, it publishes no process, form or exclusion period on it. Use the free national counselling line on 0800 006 008 or WhatsApp 076 675 0710, ask the Board directly at ceo@lgb.co.za for the current procedure, and use the statutory register of excluded persons under the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004, which binds licensed operators nationally.

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18+ Only. Gambling in Limpopo is regulated by the Limpopo Gambling Board under the Limpopo Gambling Act 3 of 2013. Gambling can be addictive and harmful if not controlled. Winners know when to stop. For help, contact South African Responsible Gambling Foundation: 0800 006 008 or WhatsApp 076 675 0710.