The Real Reason South African Bettors Stay Loyal to One Sportsbook

Using a hypothetical example, for a bet on the Premier Soccer League, odds of 1.80 versus 1.85 may look impressive, but on a stake of R100, the difference is marginal.

Although bonuses, rewards, and promotions may help sportsbooks attract clients, long-term retention often takes more than just hype.

SportsBoom looks at the factors driving loyalty for South African bettors and why many believe in sticking with a sportsbook over time.

What drives sportsbook loyalty in South Africa?

When analysing the tendency of players to use a particular betting platform, a common misconception is that loyalty is driven by factors such as brand familiarity or bonuses.

However, the answer is actually more complex: trust, convenience, and risk are often the most important considerations for South African bettors.

While sportsbooks may market free bets and promos as reasons for a strong client base, this does not fully explain why bettors stay once the bonuses have ended.

If this were the case, there would be a more significant trend of bettors signing up and then switching to other platforms to claim the welcome offers.

In reality, while bonuses may influence short-term traffic, long-term loyalty aligns more closely with trust, reliability, and experience with a specific platform.

Why bettors value loyalty in a growing market

Sticking with a particular sportsbook may be grounded in the concept of trust through repetition: from a psychological standpoint, success with a platform makes it seem more reliable.

This factor is crucial in a South African context, where the betting market is defined by mobile-first users, online and digital transactions, and smaller-stakes gambling.

A 2026 report by the South African Reserve Bank ^[1] states that online betting dominates local gambling revenue, and bettors often prize reliability over any offer or bonus.

In essence, bettors tend to stay loyal to a certain sportsbook because of past positive experiences with withdrawals and deposits, and because they know how the platform works.

Where the sportsbook loyalty theory breaks down

The idea of remaining loyal to a sportsbook may make sense on paper, although there are also misunderstandings around the core concept of why this tends to happen.

For example, a general explanation is that a platform is simple to use, but this does not fully capture why bettors often stick with an app even when it has flaws or is not optimised.

Bettors can accept technical issues because they already understand how betting works, they know withdrawals and verifications, and they understand how long payouts take.

Another common statement is that players want the best odds, implying that bettors often compare bookmakers, when the opposite is generally seen as true.

A study by Lawrence Clegg and John Cartlidge, published on ArXiv ^[2], explains that identifying sportsbook pricing errors is more difficult than many bettors assume.

This emphasises misconceptions around finding value in a betting context, and underscores that small odds differences often have little real impact for casual bettors.

Similarly, the concept of higher odds equating to better bets is flawed, and a more important consideration is whether the odds are better than the probability of an outcome.

Conversely, the argument that changing sportsbooks can improve profitability is not grounded on any basis, since the inherent risks and probabilities do not fundamentally change.

Using a South African-based hypothetical example:

If a bettor places R100 on an English Premier League once a week, his favourite sportsbook may offer odds of 1.80 for a particular team to win.

Comparatively, another sportsbook offers odds of 1.90 for the same outcome.

If the bettor is successful using his preferred bookmaker, he earns R80 profit (R100 at 1.80 nets R180); if he switched platforms beforehand, his profit would increase to R90.

After 10 bets, that R10 profit can eventually cover an additional bet, yet many bettors would rather remain with their favourite sportsbook.

This is due to the perceived cost of switching, measured in uncertainty, effort and time, can feel heavier than possible gains from better odds.