Gambling Commission Endorses Regulating South African Online Casinos

After many years of stalling, South African MPs have finally decided to listen to the review commission on South African gambling laws and industry that was created years ago to determine if online gambling in South Africa should be regulated.

According to online gambling news in South Africa, there was little surprise that the commission told the committee MP’s on trade and industry that every form of online gambling in South Africa (as well as poker) should be regulated, taxed and licensed.

Legal traditional casino gambling is currently the number two source of tax revenue in a country where auto-theft is a legitimate occupation and disputes are solved with machetes and shallow graves.

“The big elephant in the room is the online casino in South Africa and we must sharpen our spears. Any one of us can log on at night and place hundreds of bets. I know I do,” explained Louw, a warrior chief and gambling commissioner, to the yawning MPs.

Chief Louw explained that Australia and USA forbade online gambling and there are more Australian and American online gamblers today than ever before. For him, who has never learned to read or write, such behavior shows clearly that prohibition of online gambling doesn’t work.

American Harvard educated politicians still fail to comprehend this logic.

The commission recommends Italy to become the model for online gambling regulation in South Africa. At first a small number of online gambling licenses will be offered along with advertising rights.

Banks will become the enforcers of the new South African gambling laws by withholding transactions from online gambling establishments in South Africa who do not possess a valid gambling license.

DA MPs Tim Harris and Jacques Smalle this week called for regulations to be finalised. “Such regulation should establish a licensing regime, allow online registration, allow servers to be located anywhere and also govern poker and betting exchanges.”

The lawful gambling industry generated R15.9bn, or R18.1bn including the national lottery in 2009. This netted taxes of R1.5bn, or R1.92bn if VAT was included, making gambling tax the second-most important source of income.