Home / Poker News July 2008 / South Africa legalizes online gambling and poker
South Africa legalizes online gambling and poker
Posted by: James Carter. - Sat, 2008-07-26 20:07
July 14 2008 will be a day to remember for South African online gambling and poker enthusiasts. It was the day that President Thabo Mbeki signed a bill introduced over a year ago to regulate online gambling, into law.
Most of those involved with the poker industry were shocked to hear that South Africa had made online poker illegal a while ago. That was apparently only a temporary measure meant to keep internet gambling and poker under control until clear regulatory guidelines were defined and passed in a legal form. The initiative behind the National Gambling Amendment Act belonged to South Africa’s National Gambling Board which conducted a study highlighting the fact that online gambling and poker were indeed in need of licensing and legal regulation.
While this event alone doesn’t carry a huge significance for those online poker and affiliate operations still suffering from the loss of the US market, it could be viewed as a precedent and a model solution for a similar US move.
The National Gambling Amendment Act addresses all the issues the UIGEA failed to solve: player protection is at the top of its list of priorities, and as the cheating discovered at Absolute Poker and then Ultimate Bet clearly shows, that is something US authorities should address in a hurry too. The protection of problem gamblers and children is also a matter the NGAA will hopefully make much easier to implement (with the support of the industry itself, it shouldn’t be difficult).
Other issues targeted by the NGAA are: money laundering, licensing, enforcement and advertising. All in all, the legal framework set forth by the NGAA is indeed one based on realistic objectives, in total compliance with the government’s general policy regarding the matter.
The NGAA had been approved by the South African Parliament in May, but quoted institutions could not begin the implementation of procedures described in it without the President’s signature. Now that the last missing piece fell in place, it’ll be extremely interesting to keep an eye on how such a gambling regulation act tackles the problems the UIGEA has failed miserably to address.
