‘illegal to gamble online’

It came as a major shock for many when the Gauteng Gambling Board made its official statement that it is now illegal to gamble online in South Africa. While the case has been ongoing for quite some time, the final judgement was made in a North Gauteng High Court by Judge NB Tuchten and handed down on the 20 August 2010.

In line with this ruling, any internet operators who offer online gambling to a South African resident will be guilty of breaking the law and are open for prosecution. The same ruling applies to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and financial institutions that enable such transactions. Then there are the gamblers themselves. Should the authorities find that you are gambling online whilst residing in South Africa, even if it is an online gambling service provider located outside of the South African borders, you will be in breach of the new gambling legislation and can be charged. The penalty for any transgressors will be a hefty one too – they will either receive a fine of R10million or 10 years in jail, or both.

So far it seems that operators not registered in South Africa will be the ones most affected, especially as the South African regulators are zeroing in on the casino and lottery operators located in countries such as Swaziland and in Europe. The mere fact of the matter is that their clients are moving money into offshore accounts without complying with the regulations of foreign exchange, and as online gambling forms a big part of the R16billion gambling industry, it affects the South African economy greatly.

One of the concerns though is that by banning online gambling, it will simply drive the industry “underground”, making it more difficult to regulate. As the situations stands now this industry is already actively policed and according to the Gauteng Gambling Board high levels of convictions of illegal operators are made regularly. There have been 462 convictions in Gauteng alone for illegal gambling activities since 2001, of which 33 occurred this year. 438 of these cases are, however, still pending.

While the world of online gambling is in uproar over the ban as it is considered to be constitutionally contestable, the Gauteng Gambling Board did confirm that online betting on horseracing and sport remains 100% legal.

As can be expected online casinos won’t take this ruling lying down. In fact, Piggs Peak Casino of Swaziland was already granted leave to appeal against this High Court Ruling on 3 September 2010. According to their Operations Director, Lew Saul Koor, their Senior Legal Council filed an appeal which was granted, and by doing so suspended the previous judgement, thus allowing them to commence with their operations by reopening their Internet Casino.

Now one has to wonder exactly how this situation will pan out. But until then online gamblers might want to consider alternative ways to try their luck as the stakes are high should you be caught red-handed.