VICTOR CHANDLER EYES SOUTH AFRICAN ONLINE GAMBLING MARKET

25 April 2008

It's not yet legal, but major companies are showing interest


The South African publication Business Report revealed this week that the Gibraltar-based Victor Chandler online gambling group was one of the major European companies with plans for the South African market once the pastime is legalised.

Online gambling is currently illegal in the country, although legislation designed to regulate and licence the activity is currently weaving its way slowly through the legislative system (see previous InfoPowa reports).

British sports betting and gaming entrepreneur Victor Chandler, chairman of the Victor Chandler International group, confirmed to Business Report this week that he intended opening shop in South Africa in the very near future. Headquartered in Gibraltar, the group's operations include a sports book, poker rooms and a casino.

Bloomberg business news has also reported that the Vienna-listed Bwin Interactive Entertainment plans to enter the sports betting markets in South Africa, Spain and Ukraine. The news agency apparently gleaned this information from Austria's Wirtchaftsblatt newspaper, which did not identify the source.

However Kevin O'Neal, a spokesperson for the company, said he was surprised to see Bloomberg speculating so widely. "I would not like to comment," he said. "We like to keep things under wraps until we are ready, for competition reasons."

Chandler told Business Report that the gambling market in South Africa had great potential, with a rapidly growing middle class and rising use of the internet in sport, gaming and casinos.

Commenting on the Bloomberg Bwin report he said: "Wherever we are, they are. Sometimes they follow us, sometimes we follow them." The Chandler group has a turnover in excess of GBP 1 billion annually and has more than half a million customers in 160 countries.

Chandler said the cost of setting up operations would be modest at between GBP 200 000 and GBP 300 000.

Marketing costs would be dependent on the size of the operation, as would the number of employees, which would depend on whether the operations were online or telephonic, he said.

Business Report notes that despite online gambling being illegal in South Africa there are many gambling sites, mostly operating from outside its borders, offering online gambling to local gamblers. The publication names Silver Sands Casino, Jackpot Cash Casino, Casino Las Vegas, Amber Coast Casino, Giant Vegas Casino, Windows Casino, and African Palace Casino among these.

The South African Trade and Industry minister Mandisi Mpahlwa told the National Assembly in September that the National Gambling Amendment Bill sought to protect society from the negative effects of gambling, protect minors from exposure to gambling, and prevent gambling from being a source of crime and a channel for money laundering.

Mpahlwa said the bill provided for everyone engaged in interactive gambling to be registered with a licensed interactive gambling provider. Strict verification procedures that were compliant with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act would need to be followed.

Statutory requirements, such as obtaining sworn statements from players that they were 18 years or older, would ensure that minors did not have access to interactive gambling.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa