South Africa gaming bill labelled a 'complete mess'

[The Buzz]

Cape Town-based gaming lawyer Garron Whitesman is calling South Africa’s latest Amendment Bill that was released last week, “flawed, unrealistic and nonsensical policies,” according to an iGaming Business article.

From the article:

Mooted changes include the National Gambling Board being repositioned as the country’s gambling regulator, with the National Lotteries Commission assuming responsibility for regulating wagers on the national lottery, foreign lottery, lottery results and sports pools.

Other proposed amendments include outlawing bets on dog racing, limiting the number of bingo licences and machines, and regulating electronic bingo.

The Amendment Bill has existed in various forms since 2016, but Whitesman (pictured) told iGamingBusiness.com that the latest version is a “complete mess”.

He said: “My view is the bill is a complete mess and is based on very flawed, unrealistic and nonsensical policies that have been devised by the Department of Trade and Industry.”

Whitesman also said while there is a “pretty good chance” the bill will become law, with further amendments possible, this could lead to operators taking legal action.

Read more here: http://www.igamingbusiness.com/news/...-complete-mess

[Cash Bonus]

That's a shame. This is really going to be a very big problem for "bookmakers" and a big hit on their business. I bet that there's going to be a huge lawsuit if this bill actually comes into effect

[Topboss]

I totally agree with that lawyer.
Furthermore, One of the main reasons they were originally working on an amendment to the bill was in order to introduce regulations for online gambling which they originally started working on years ago and the bill has been back and forth many times.

The Trade and Finance Minister Rob Davies did a whole about turn as he was initially wanting to legalize online gambling in SA and was working on the regulation side of it before putting forward a final bill, yet there is no mention of online gambling in the amended bill

[Probets]

My view on this is that the revenue and tax derived from sports betting is far more lucrative to our government than not. We have seen the slow transition into murky waters of online gambling with games of chance, so I do believe that the blurred lines of our legislation will remain as is, if not worsen. The financial gain is just too positive for local government to ignore, simple fact