Online Gambling Regulation in South Africa on Hold

This announcement goes completely against the trend in South Africa. It is difficult to understand where it is coming from, but it is not through a democratic process. We were told that our report and its recommendations were adopted. Stephen Louw, lecturer at Wits University, www.iol.co.za;

Stephen Louw was certainly shocked by the department’s statement claiming that it is impossible to ban online gambling especially when it was on the rise in South Africa with all the technology developments and internet access. Impossible or not, South African residents should not expect legalization anytime soon.

Is online gambling legalization on hold because government concerns about fueling the gambling addiction or because of the feeling that they won’t be able to control the activity?

The policy is that online gambling is banned in the country. Maybe in the future it might be allowed as parliamentary processes are still under way. Until something is legislated by law in Parliament it remains illegal. Zodwa Ntuli, the department’s deputy director-general. www.iol.co.za;

Zodwa said that it is not true that the government ignored recommendations of the commission because all recommendations were considered but, unfortunately, the government has no adequate resources to monitor and control the activity.

National Gambling Act of 1996 that distributed 40 gambling licenses across the country legalized casinos, a national lottery and other forms of gaming under the control of the National Gambling Board. Online gambling in the form of casino games, poker and other games of chance is still illegal and it is unknown how long the legalization of online gambling will be on hold.

In the meantime, South Africa residents are still gambling on unregulated sites instead of producing annual gambling revenue for their own country.

Did you like this article?

Tweet +0