South Africa: Mpumalanga regulator on strengthening gambling oversight
Mpumalanga Economic Regulator CEO Vusi Mtsweni is leading a transformation of the province’s gambling oversight framework. He tells SiGMA News that the strategy focuses on strengthening regulatory credibility, modernising systems, and ensuring long-term sustainability while keeping up with evolving markets and technological changes.
SiGMA: Since your appointment as CEO of the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator, what has been your core strategic priority in reshaping the province’s gambling oversight framework?
V. Mtsweni: Since my appointment, the core strategic priority has been to strengthen the effectiveness, credibility, and sustainability of the regulatory framework in line with MER’s mandate. This has also required a deliberate focus on reviewing the regulator’s funding model to ensure long-term financial sustainability and to address budget constraints that may impact the delivery of critical regulatory and public protection programmes.
This has also meant modernising our systems, strengthening governance and compliance oversight, and ensuring that our regulatory approach keeps pace with changes in the industry and advances in technology. At the same time, we are fast-tracking amendments to the provincial liquor and gambling legislation to respond to current market realities, reinforce effective regulation, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of levy collection.
Central to this strategy is our commitment to protect the public interest, while facilitating a well-regulated, competitive and socially responsible gambling and liquor industry. This means strengthening consumer protection measures and increasing efforts to identify illegal operators, so that we have a fair, compliant, and sustainable industry that plays an important role in the socio-economic development of the province.
SiGMA: Your tenure has been described as a period of regulatory transformation. What key reforms have had the greatest impact so far?
V. Mtsweni: Our transformation agenda has been driven by a deliberate focus on strengthening regulatory efficiency, improving compliance outcomes, and building greater stakeholder trust. Over this period, several key reforms have had a significant and lasting impact.
Foremost has been the consistent and firm enforcement of provincial liquor and gambling legislation. This has increased regulatory certainty, raised compliance levels across the industry and reinforced the credibility of the regulator. This has sent a clear message that regulation must be fair, predictable, and enforced effectively.
Secondly, another major reform has been the implementation of a risk-based regulatory and enforcement model, which has enabled us to target inspections and compliance interventions more strategically, improving both regulatory effectiveness and the efficient use of resources.
We have also made important strides in strengthening responsible gambling programmes, deepening our commitment to player protection, harm minimisation, and public awareness around responsible participation in the sector.
Another transformative reform has been the digitisation of licensing and compliance processes, which has modernised service delivery through improved turnaround times, increased transparency, and more accessible regulatory services for stakeholders. This has included modernising internal systems, strengthening governance and compliance oversight, and ensuring that our regulatory approach is responsive to industry developments and technological change.
Collectively, these reforms have not only improved operational performance and governance outcomes, but have also positioned MER as a more responsive, credible and future-focused regulator, capable of adapting to a changing environment while safeguarding the public interest.
SiGMA: What strategies are in place to ensure that gaming contributes meaningfully to provincial economic development and investment attraction?
V. Mtsweni: In line with provincial priorities, the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator views the gambling sector not simply as a revenue-generating industry, but as an important contributor to economic growth, investment and development in the province. Our focus is on ensuring the sector delivers real, lasting value to communities while also supporting broader provincial growth objectives.
We do this through a number of complementary strategies:
- Using licensing as a development tool, by encouraging investment in underserved and high-potential areas, rather than allowing growth to be concentrated in already saturated markets. This helps spread economic opportunities more equitably while supporting a sustainable industry.
- Promoting transformation and local economic participation by embedding requirements that support job creation, SMME development, skills transfer and local procurement. This ensures that the benefits of investment extend beyond operators and are felt in communities.
- Leveraging the link between gambling, tourism and hospitality by positioning gambling establishments as part of a broader tourism and leisure offering that can attract visitors, stimulate spending and support related sectors of the economy.
- Providing a stable and credible regulatory environment, because investors are more likely to commit when there is certainty, transparency and consistent oversight. A well-regulated sector creates confidence and supports long-term investment.
- Aligning the sector with wider provincial development goals, including infrastructure growth, enterprise development and inclusive economic participation, so that gaming contributes to broader economic priorities.
- Protecting the integrity of the sector through strong compliance and enforcement, including tackling illegal operators. This protects legitimate businesses, secures provincial revenues and creates a healthier investment environment.
Our overarching objective is to ensure the gambling sector contributes meaningfully to the province. We want the sector to be recognised as a partner in development and a contributor to Mpumalanga’s long-term economic future.
SiGMA: What steps has the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator taken to improve efficiency in licensing and compliance processes?
V. Mtsweni: We have launched a purposeful and structured programme to improve efficiency in licensing and compliance processes, based on digital transformation, process optimisation, regulatory certainty and transparency.
Central to this is the end-to-end digitisation of our licensing systems. This journey is ongoing but is already delivering measurable improvements in turnaround times, accessibility, auditability and internal efficiency. This transition also opens the door to a more integrated, paperless and data-driven regulatory environment.
One of the key pillars of our approach has been to increase transparency and public access. We have developed and continue to maintain a public register of all licensed operators in Mpumalanga. This allows any member of the public, stakeholders or enforcement agencies to independently verify the validity of a licence. The confidence in the regulatory system has been boosted, and the room for misrepresentation has been reduced.
Building on this, we have introduced innovative licence validation tools, including:
- Free SMS-based verification services, and
- QR code functionality, allowing consumers and inspectors to instantly authenticate licences displayed at operator premises or on digital platforms.
These tools empower consumers, support enforcement efforts, and promote informed participation in the regulated market.
Importantly, our approach is complemented by the implementation of a risk-based and intelligence-led compliance model. This allows us to focus regulatory resources on high-risk and non-compliant operators, while reducing the administrative burden on consistently compliant businesses. The result is a more targeted, efficient, and proportionate regulatory system.
We have also prioritised the consistent application of provincial legislation, ensuring clarity, fairness, and predictability in licensing and compliance processes. This has improved compliance levels and reinforced regulatory certainty across the sector.
Collectively, these interventions are positioning MER as a modern, responsive, and service-oriented regulator, committed to efficiency, transparency, and the integrity of Mpumalanga’s gambling and liquor industries.
SiGMA: You have championed evidence-based policymaking. How is data shaping your approach to licensing, enforcement and market oversight?
V. Mtsweni: MER continues to advance a data-driven and evidence-based regulatory approach, recognising that accurate, timely, and actionable insights must inform effective regulation in a dynamic environment.
We have learnt that to strengthen decision-making across our core functions, it is essential to leverage and integrate multiple data streams in a coherent and strategic manner:
- Industry and market data to guide licensing decisions, ensure optimal market structuring, and avoid oversaturation, thereby supporting a sustainable, competitive, and well-balanced sector.
- Compliance and enforcement data to identify patterns of non-compliance, emerging risks, and repeat offenders, enabling intelligence-led, risk-based interventions and more effective allocation of regulatory resources.
- Socio-economic indicators to assess the broader impact of gambling and liquor activities on communities, ensuring that regulatory decisions remain firmly aligned with public interest, harm minimisation, and social responsibility objectives.
However, importantly, our focus is not just on the collection of data, but on the integration, analysis and, conversion of data into actionable information to support policy, enhance oversight and facilitate regulatory responsiveness. This integrated approach is enabling MER to evolve towards a more predictive, proactive and outcomes-based regulatory model.
In addition, we are building internal capability to bring together data across systems to enable better real-time monitoring, reporting accuracy and regulatory responsiveness. This means we can improve the monitoring of operator behaviour, revenue trends, and compliance performance.
A more transparent, data-driven future for Mpumalanga’s gambling sector
Together, these reforms mark a shift towards a more efficient, transparent, and data-driven regulatory model. By balancing strong oversight with economic development goals, the regulator is positioning Mpumalanga’s gambling sector as both a responsible industry and a meaningful contributor to long-term provincial growth.
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