At present bingo falls outside the rules and regulations set for South Africa’s other gambling industries when it comes to operating gaming machines. Bingo halls around the country are now increasingly installing new bingo gaming terminals that have no limits on stakes or jackpots and are basically the same as those gaming machines found in casinos and the limited payment machine industry.

The chairman of the Limited Payout Machine Association, Elias Mphande, has told a parliamentary select committee that the machines in use at bingo halls are a threat to members’ industry. The current law limits the number of casinos in South Africa and restricts limited payout machines to 50,000, and Mphande said that the government’s carefully crafted gambling policy was being circumvented by the replacement of bingo seats by gaming terminals. The limited payout machine industry contributes to the South African economy with licence fees, provincial gambling tax, VAT and monitoring fees.

Mphande called for a moratorium on the issuing of bingo licences until laws had been enacted to regulate the bingo industry, as the approval process and standards were presently below those set for casinos and limited payout machines. He added that a national policy was needed to clarify the difference between gambling devices to aid bingo and those that are electronic facsimiles of casino slot machines. (E-02.15.07)

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