South Africa Takes Another Step Towards Legal Internet Gambling - 04-16-09

April 16 - Legal and regulated online gambling seems to be close to becoming a reality after many years of slow and at times no progress. This spells good news for some operators.

However, a number of South African online gambling operators, who take advantage of the lack of regulation at present and run offshore operations, may need to face the fact that they could find themselves out of the new gambling scene.

As soon as the new regulations kick in, the National Gambling Board wants to hand out online gaming licenses to only ten South African operators – and those who have been running offshore sites will find themselves without a license if the authorities have their way.

"They know very well that they are operating illegally and we have for a number of years attempted to put a stop to their activities," said the acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Gambling Board, Thebi Moja. "If we are able to prevent them from operating in SA that would be a big victory."

The new proposed laws will specifically ban South African gambling companies from applying for and receiving licenses, and they will not be allowed to advertise their products. This could prove a major blow to a number of top companies who will find it difficult to compete in such an environment.

The past years have proven a dilemma for many operators who, on the one hand, wanted to abide strictly by the law, knowing that eventually the day would come when they would be able to get a license under new legislation; but on the hand watched as their competition forged ahead by creating their online gambling divisions, grabbing a good piece of the market in the process.

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