South African tycoon Rob Hersov funds new betting and prediction market Betmatch

South African tycoon Rob Hersov has emerged as a financier of Betmatch, one of the first local prediction markets in South Africa, as global and local operators race into a betting model that regulators are still arguing over.

Hersov has loan-funded ZAR Prive, the company behind Betmatch, according to an investigation by amaBhungane published on Nov. 12. ZAR Prive is owned by tech entrepreneur Nicholas John French, who told amaBhungane that Hersov had lent money to the company but was not a shareholder.

ZAR Prive first set up Betmatch as a sports betting exchange, a platform where punters bet against each other rather than against a bookmaker, and launched it in October. A week into operation the prediction market still offered mostly sports bets. It had taken small bets on this month's local elections and planned to add a casino offering.

French is also the force behind Truth Report, a news site that describes itself as centre-right and carries videos from Hersov, Ronaldo Gouws and Gareth Cliff, among others.

A contested licence

Prediction markets let users bet on the outcome of events, from football matches to elections. The model has grown quickly abroad through platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, and sport makes up more than 80% of Kalshi's activity.

South Africa has no specific rules for prediction markets. The National Gambling Act of 2004 makes no express provision for online bookmakers or bet exchanges, and licences are issued by provincial gambling boards.

The North West Gambling Board has introduced a licence for bet-exchange bookmakers, which the industry is using as a route into prediction markets. The National Gambling Board says such an arrangement "is not permitted under the current legislative framework" and has referred the matter to the National Gambling Policy Council, which is chaired by the trade minister and can issue binding resolutions. The SA Bookmakers Association wants prediction markets banned until a dedicated regime is in place.

Betmatch said "liquidity is important to any exchange product," adding that integration "provides infrastructure on which to build, but does not by itself establish commercial viability."

Other players include Hollywoodbets' BetfairSA, which runs a bet exchange under a white-label deal with Flutter Entertainment's Betfair, and Polymarket, whose US parent registered trademarks in South Africa in July.

Hersov's career

Hersov was born in Johannesburg into the family that co-founded the Anglovaal mining group. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, worked at Goldman Sachs and News Corp., and in 1998 founded Marquis Jet Europe, which he sold to NetJets in 2004.

He founded Invest Africa, a London-based investor network, in 2013. Since returning to South Africa he has bought Fisantekraal, a former military airfield near Cape Town that he renamed Cape Winelands Airport, and has become one of the country's most outspoken critics of the African National Congress.