Online Gaming Bill Introduced in South Africa (again)

In what is a sign of relentless campaigning for online poker and gaming, a bill to legalise and regulate it in South Africa was put forward recently. However, an online gaming regulation bill was also put forward in the country last year and was quickly put down by members of South Africa’s parliament who were opposed to online gaming.

That doesn’t seem to have deterred Geordin Hill-Lewis, the politician who tabled both last year and this year’s bills. Mr Hill-Lewis has long outlined his desire to see South Africa establish and regulate a broader online gaming sector that is inclusive of poker and casino games.

South Africa currently only allows for its citizens to conduct sports betting online. It may be ambitious of Mr Hill-Lewis and other online poker proponents in South Africa to presume that the latest bill, titled Remote Gambling Bill (PMB 3 – 2015), will be successful less than a year after the previous bill was shot down.

That doesn’t mean the news is all doom and gloom, even if the current bill ends up (as predicted) being unsuccessful. Should Mr Hill-Lewis’s views be shared by the majority of South Africans in his age group, it raises the possibility that online poker will be legalised and regulated there sometime in the future.

At 27 years of age, Mr Hill-Lewis is young for a politician. In fact, he was the youngest ever member of South Africa’s parliament when he was sworn in back in 2011, a record which was only broken last year.

Common sense dictates that as the years go by, people closer in age to politicians like Mr Hill-Lewis will be more prominent in countries like South Africa.

This raises the prospect that the tide with regards of online gaming, at least in South Africa, could change in the medium-term future. That is, at least, if the different views on the issue are generational, which they somewhat appear to be.