Johannesburg must be looking very attractive to many professional poker players today, as South African President Thabo Mbeki has signed the National Gambling Amendment Bill (NGAB) allowing the licensing and regulation of online gaming.
The NGAB was introduced to the South African Parliament over a year ago, in a bid to protect players from illegal operator, and to restrict access to gaming for minors and problem gamblers. The objective of the NGAB is:
to provide for the regulation of interactive gambling so as to protect society against the stimulation of the demand for gambling; to provide for the registration of players and opening of player accounts; to provide for the conditions applicable to interactive gambling licenses; to provide for further protection of minors and other persons vulnerable to the negative effects of gambling; … to prevent gambling from being associated with crime, money laundering or financing of terrorist and related activities.
The South African parliament approved the Bill in May 2008, and now that the President has signed it all that remains is to establish guidelines and procedures to set it in motion. According to our sources, the implementation of the Bill has been suspended “until a date chosen by the President.”
These are some of the aspects covered by the NGAB:
- Restrictions on marketing and advertising
- Strict exclusion of under-18s
- Programs to prevent, treat and reduce problem gambling
- Taxation of gaming sites’ revenues
- Resolution of disputes between players and sites
- Anti money laundering provisions
South African opinion is very positive about the Bill and its implications: “The purpose of this Act is to ensure that all gambling activities are conducted responsibly, fairly and honestly (and to) protect minors and other vulnerable persons from the negative effects of gambling.”
