SOUTH AFRICAN INTERACTIVE GAMBLING BILL IN TROUBLE?

24 August 2007

Land gambling association recommends back to the drawing board

The proposed South African legislation to regulate and license online gambling in the country has run into more opposition - this time from the influential land casino industry, represented by the Casino Association of South Africa which has described the proposed law as "inadequate" and recommended that far more research and drafting is required.

Politicians have been debating the National Gambling Amendment Bill, but this week CASA took centrestage in a presentation to the National Assembly's trade and industry committee which is currently studying the Bill. CASA chairperson Jabu Mabuza said the industry supported in principle legalisation and proper regulation of interactive gambling.

However, the draft bill was inadequate in a number of respects, and should be referred back for "further research, stakeholder consultation and redrafting", he said.

"In our view the amendments as tabled do not do the job adequately."

The South African Press Association reports that Mabuza insisted it was important that everything possible be done to ensure that the advantages of legalising interactive gambling outweighed its disadvantages.

There had to be a level playing field, to ensure consistency and fairness. For example, interactive operators ought to pay a rate of tax no less than that paid by other sectors of the gambling industry, Mabuza asserted.

New interactive gambling operators should also be subject to no less stringent requirements regarding empowerment, probity, financial credibility, skills development, job creation, regulation, taxation, and measures to prevent underage gambling and the promotion of responsible gambling, than those applied to land-based casinos.

And it was essential interactive gambling legislation should comply with South Africa's commitments in terms of international treaties and conventions.

A number of other key issues, including establishing guarantees to cover debts to players and the fiscus, equal access to communication platforms, duplication of inspections, personal licenses, and the role of interactive intermediaries needed greater certainty and resolution, Mabuza continued, recommending that the Bill should go back to the drawing board to be improved.

South Africa had some of the world's most effective and well-formulated legislation governing land-based gambling, the CASA chairman reminded the panel, and therefore interactive gaming regulation should be both comprehensive and thorough.

"The current proposals do not accomplish that goal," Mabuza said.

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