South Africa’s Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe has reiterated her country’s stance when it comes to unregulated gambling activities at a conference in the country.
Thabethe explained to the 6th Biennial South African Gambling Conference that a number of raids and confiscations had taken place over the last year or so and that activities would continue to be monitored closely.
In all 86 raids that were carried out, 350 machines were confiscated and it led Thabethe to comment that the establishment of the National Gambling Board (NGB) had been a rousing success.
Although land-based gaming was higher on the agenda, online gaming didn’t escape the minister’s attention.
She thanked the efforts of certain groups to combat unregulated online gaming, and said, “I am glad that initiatives like the banks’ intervention not to pay winnings from unlawful gambling activities and forfeit them to the State through the NGB, and the blocking of processing of credit card transactions…are being explored.”
Earlier in the day, Thabethe had explained the advantages of gambling to the economy but it’s also clear that South Africa doesn’t want to know, or is simply refusing to recognize, the benefits online gaming regulation would have.
The theme of the conference is “Gambling driven by technology” so you’d expect online gaming to be at the forefront of the discussions thanks to the technology involved. Although, until the country decides that the time is right to start thinking about some kind of gambling regulation, discussion will be limited to what has been seen at the conference.
