The
\nNational Gambling Board revealed recently that gross gambling revenue hit
\nnearly R60 billion last year with online platforms raking in over R150 billion.<\/p>\n
Advisor
\nRebekah Pillay says with the economy struggling, gambling is eating into money
\nmeant to be kept aside for essentials.<\/p>\n
She has
\nwarned that if people are gambling more than 1 per cent of their income, that
\nis already too much.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Pillay
\nsays better financial planning and awareness are key to avoiding the dangers of
\nproblem gambling.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“A
\nlot of households already have a lot of income constraints. Obviously, money is
\nnot flowing as easy as it was. So, using any money that’s coming into our
\nhouseholds before, which is supposed to be channeled to paying our bills and
\nfeeding our families, we don’t have the luxury of spare money.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“Anything
\nchanneled into gambling is actually eating away money that we were supposed to
\nbe using for our households and paying our debt.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0Pillay,
\nwho is a financial adviser at Consult by Momentum, has pointed to unemployment
\nas one of the drivers behind the rise in gambling.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“There’s
\na lot of pressure with sometimes big households, or as we call it Black Tax,
\nand you have to stretch what you have. Just the amount of pressure that they
\nare under with little money to do a lot.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“A
\nvery wealthy client said to me that if you are now in South Africa and you are
\nmanaging to pay all your bills, you are rich. So, I think that kind of gives
\nyou perspective in terms of whether we are all able to afford our monthly
\nexpenses. And that will tell you we are not.”<\/p>\n
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