We know South Africa has a vendetta against online gambling, but this particular story has Irish Sweepstakes prohibition written all over it… After the East Coast Radio website posted an ad for a “UK-based lottery syndicate” on behalf of one Lin Kelly Ltd., an irate do-gooder alerted South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Seems the Exchange Control Rulings of the South African Reserve Bank prohibits (there’s that word again) sending cash ‘abroad’ for gambling purposes. Lin Kelly’s lawyers claim there’s nothing to see here, folks, because the cash they receive is remitted to a local agency, which then handles the lottery purchase. So the customers aren’t purchasing lottery tickets themselves, see? No harm, no foul, right?
Um, then why do these customers’ credit and debit card statements show the word ‘lottery’ appearing next to the charges in question? (We hope that, when posed this question, the attorneys suddenly yelled “Oh my God! Look over there!”, then, when everybody turned back around, there was nothing but a wift of smoke where once stood lawyers.)
Not wanting to cause further offense, the ad has since been pulled from the website, but the original complainant won’t be satisfied until East Coast Radio faces some kind of consequences. We’re going to go way out on a limb here, but this git is either a serious prude or a disgruntled lottery ticket purchaser who failed to win The Fat One.
