South African government to legalise online gaming industry

[Ian_go]

In contrast to the United States government's criminalisation of online gambling, the South African government is legalising the industry in an attempt to regulate and control it....more

[Simmo!]

Aha! Its WOL's greatest export Wilkommen Ian_go the newsman

Sensible move on behalf of S.A. Nice to see they take it seriously unlike the vote-hungry PR hunters in US politics. And hopefully they will use the revenues to help educate players in the sector also.

[MichaelZ]

That is good news. We have seen more initiatives to regulate instead of prohibit in the UK lately, with the labour party taking the lead.

The Netherlands granted a temporary license to land-based Holland Casino recently to start offering gambling on the Internet. I'm pretty sure they would eventually license more casino firms. But that will take some time, probably not before 2010.
Sensible governments understand that regulation is by far the best option.

[Ian_go]

Hi Simmo,

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to post more news here at CM in the future. Cant limit the knowledge just to the good folks at WOL.

cheers,

Ian.

Aha! Its WOL's greatest export Wilkommen Ian_go the newsman

Sensible move on behalf of S.A. Nice to see they take it seriously unlike the vote-hungry PR hunters in US politics. And hopefully they will use the revenues to help educate players in the sector also.

[jetset]

The South Africans have been working on this for some time, and appointed a commission of enquiry that travelled widely and was seen at several industry conferences, where they exchanged views with many people and listened attentively.

They also interacted with some of the main progressive jurisdictions and studied the eCOGRA standards and system, I understand.

The commission published an excellent and very comprehensive report on the entire online gambling industry, positioning South African as a potentially seriously regulated component within it, and recommended to government that it followed this course.

Like most governments the wheels grind slowly, and the report has been with the minister and cabinet for awhile, but there are great hopes that SA will take a positive approach and apply its regulations and requirements professionally and seriously.

[Chatmaster]

Yes, I must agree. The South African government has done allot of research and actually have been commited to making a well researched decision. I also received this on my alert this morning. Stakes are high for online gambling in SA : Mail & Guardian Online

It seems that they will have the bill available end of October and it should be law by the end of the 1st quarter next year.