By: Zandile Majavu
Recently appointed Gauteng Gambling (GGB) CEO Karabo Mbele believes that small businesses have immense potential to thrive in the gambling industry, from the micro level to the point where they can become independent. Mbele is a seasoned executive and has held various operational roles at public entities. She is the first African female CEO of the GGB, which regulates casino gaming, betting on horse racing events, Bingo, limited pay-out gaming machines, and manufacturing and supply of gambling equipment.
“So, in the gambling sector, there are various modes where you have what you call your low payout machines (LPM). This is a very easy entry mode if you know what you are doing. Provided that you do also comply with the municipality that you are operating in, everything is regulated… [if] you are a small business, you cannot just pitch a tent anywhere,” Mbele told Vutivi News. She added that if an SMME applied with the board and had two machines or three machines, for example, they must be housed within a certain business, such as a shebeen or eatery. This was to help ensure the gambling business could survive.
“Otherwise, if you have got five machines in an isolated place, people will not know that you have something to give or a business. That is why we say the LPMs must be established in an already established business because there is already a foot count,” Mbele said. Shedding light on some of the barriers of entry, Mbele said that licensing fees were quite low and microbusinesses in the sector grew from two to five machines, bringing in good revenue from R9000 to R90000 per month.
“In 2022/2023, the gambling industry generated R815.1 billion from that amount. The gross gambling revenue was generated by the Gauteng Gambling Board, wherein Gauteng takes up 27,1% of the pie and then it is followed by the Western Cape at 25% and then the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. So, we are looking at a very big pie and Gauteng occupies the biggest size in terms of the numbers.” She conceded that although gambling has its own pitfalls, the GGB goes “back to the host communities and we inform people that gambling can be a good thing if done correctly”.
Mbele added that businesses often start at the micro level. “I think that the gambling board caters to the missing micro-enterprise or missing ‘M’ because, through using our machines, you are already partnered with one of our operators. You go share the cost by 50%, and they assist you as you grow your business,” she said.“We will continue to have informal businesses in our structures. Most of us were raised
by women who sell fat cakes at 5 o’clock, and you find that the child of that mother goes to UCT, and that money pays school fees. The school fees contribute to the system via VAT, which the same mother pays every time she goes to buy flour or sugar there was VAT. Let no one start telling you that you are doing something wrong when you are still in the informal part of the business,” Mbele further said.
