Legal Internet Gambling In South Africa Close
Published: Sunday, March 16, 2008 Online-Casinos.com
LEGAL INTERNET GAMBLING IN SOUTH AFRICA CLOSE
Although officials continue to warn "offenders"
South African media reported on the long-running legalisation of online gambling in the country this week, opining that legalisation through the country's Parliament was not far off. Despite favourable results from extensive international research and several re-drafts, the embryo legislation has yet to be passed.
The Times reported this week that even if the service providers are based in another country or hold a licence to operate outside South Africa, online gambling is currently illegal in the country despite extensive advertising by some companies. But, it points out, a Bill related to online gambling is soon to be tabled before the National Assembly for approval. And with legitimacy comes protection for the online gambler.
The Business Times took up the theme, making similar observations and reporting that Themba Marasha, chief operations officer of the National Gambling Board, had approached various bodies that have contravened the restriction on advertising, promoting and marketing online gambling organisations.
The report revealed that the Bill legalising online gambling was recently submitted to the Select Committee of National Provinces and will later be tabled in the National Assembly for final approval.
Currently, there is no protection for consumers with regard to Internet gambling. Should anyone have a claim against an online gaming site, they would have no official South African recourse — not even the help of the Gaming Board.
When online gambling becomes legal in SA, the providers of such services and Internet service providers may apply for licences.
“The new law will enable people to licence Internet gambling, and South African citizens will be able to operate within a protected environment,” said Marasha.
He said that current offenders had little chance of obtaining licences. “Acts of wrongdoing will disqualify them should they want to apply for a licence in the new South African gambling environment,” he said.
Evelyn Masotja, the director for regulated industries at the trade and industry department, said that currently, Internet gambling was prohibited in SA in terms of the National Gambling Act, Act 7 of 2004. Under the Act, the penalty for anyone convicted of an offence is a fine of up to R10-million or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years — or he or she could face both a fine and imprisonment.
Masotja said the intention behind regulating the online gambling environment in South Africa was to protect consumers, not to punish them — and to put proper control and monitoring systems in place.
“Players involved in interactive gambling currently play at their own risk and there’s no regulatory environment [within South Africa] to protect them,” he said.
The Business Times article quotes Howard Berchowitz, managing director of Casino Enterprises, trading as the Swaziland-based Piggs Peak Casino, who has owned the establishment since 1988. The business went online in 1997.
The company is currently in court with the Gambling Board to establish where the gambling takes place. “I’m not professing to be licensed, or to be operating in SA. We advertise our land-based product here, and advertise the Internet vehicle on the Internet, but not in traditional media. We believe our gambling is happening in Swaziland, and we pay our taxes there,” he said.
The online business has increased — and so has traditional gambling. Berchowitz told the reporter that revenues from online gambling were ‘‘reasonable, but nowhere near where the bricks and mortar [casinos] are at the moment, although I do believe the revenues will grow substantially”.
Marasha said the local jurisdiction would allow Internet gambling if operators met the requirements of South African national technical standards.
