Stan James will hook up with GTECH G2 ahead of their retail launch in South Africa. The bookie plans to use GTECH G2’s Margin Maker World Till system that supports fixed odds, spreadbetting and pools on a variety of different sports. It has a good record internationally having been utilized successfully in Venezuela, Romania and Spain. Stan James have the system certified for use in the country’s Western Province and will debut it at five shops in Cape Town before potentially up to 100 shops should they wish to expand.
South African gambling bosses have admitted they lack the power to stop players using international gaming industry sites. The National Gambling Board (NGB) has the mere power to write to regulators to ask them to cut it out or use their relationship with the country’s banks to catch out offenders. NGB CEO Baby Tyawa told ITWeb that it’s tricky for the board and the amount of customers using sites worldwide is unknown.
“There is a lot of illegal online gambling going on that we are not aware of,” Tyawa said.
“The challenge is that online gambling is virtual, and the National Gambling Board does not know where it is happening. We are the first to accept it’s an impossible mission,” she added.
The limbo being experienced at the foot of Africa comes from the fact they regulate by the state and not nationally. As we mentioned earlier Stan James signed the latest deal in South Africa and until the recommendations of the Gambling Review Commission are taken on board it will stay this way. Given the choice of getting the best deal available to them, customers will visit the sites offering the best deal. Combine this with the fact that many international gaming industry sites offer a safe atmosphere it’s no wonder South African customers are heading to international waters.
