The dark side of sports betting in South Africa

702's John Perlman speaks to Professor of Economics at Stellenbosch University, Johan Fourie.

Listen below:

Prof. Fourie says the amount of money South Africans have spent on sports betting has increased by 20 times over the past five years, and that the scale at which it's growing is 'ruinous' for many people.

"That's the major concern... it's growing, it's growing very rapidly - and I don't see that growth ending soon."

- Johan Fourie, Professor of Economics at Stellenbosch University

So is there a way to curb or reverse this trend?

Aside from adding it to the sin taxes, Prof. Fourie believes there needs to be a more creative, possibly regulatory solution to the problem.

He says it's also simply become too easy to do...

"Technology is part of the story here - you used to have to go to a casino... now I can sit in front of my computer at work and bet, and that is a huge problem."

- Johan Fourie, Professor of Economics at Stellenbosch University

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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the discussion.