The invitation for public comment on South Africa’s draft National Gambling Amendment Bill is due to close for submissions on Monday. The bill, approved by the Cabinet at the end of last year, could legalise and license Internet gambling. CEO of the National Gambling Board, Thibedi Majaki, considers the attempted banning of online gambling by the US authorities to be foolish, and likely to promote underground activity.

South Africa prefers to regulate online gambling so that it can address concerns such as underage gambling, money laundering and problem gambling. At present there is no data on the number of South Africans who gamble online and amending the current law should bring both control and tax money to the government. It is estimated that a minimal percentage of South Africans do play online because fewer have access to the technology than in other parts of the world. If the draft bill is approved, it is expected that most South Africans would opt to play on the licensed and regulated sites.

Thibedi Majaki believes that the fact that players must register and supply financial details to play on online gambling sites, and thereby be traceable, will provide a sufficient barrier against minors being able to play. The amendment of the National Gambling Act 2004 is intended to ‘provide for the regulation of interactive gambling; to provide for the registration of players and player accounts’ and to ‘provide further protection of minors and other vulnerable persons from gambling.’ (E-02.08.07)

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