The Gauteng Gambling board has spent months, if not years, fighting against online gambling in South Africa, and they’ve finally won – gambling in South Africa using the means of digital technology is no longer allowed.
The law goes as far as saying that anyone person caught could be fined up to R10mil and/or face 10 years in jail. The law is also going after gambling services that allow South Africans to gamble online.
It’s going to be interesting to see what casinos such as Piggs Peak, African Palace and Silver sands do, this law will pose a huge drop in earnings to these casions!
If you have any further information around this matter, please feel free to pop me a comment!
UPDATE:
After some interesting conversations, casino’s could probably switch to paying out via PayPal or other such services and not collect users details, thus still allowing South Africans to participate. It’s obviously crossing a line and all, but it’s a way for them to work around it and they might stand a chance in getting away with this. It does mean the person playing is operating in an illegal manner, so you’re not allowed to play from South Africa.
Another thing that came to mind is whether sooner or later, all affiliate marketing and ways that you can earn money online will soon be banned or looked at and reshaped. I recall reading an article online, which spoke of a state in America where online marketers pay a yearly levy of around $300 to be able to do affiliate marketing. I wonder if this will ever happen in South Africa?
Its good and bad, They going to have a hard time regulating/enforcing it though. They should just find out better ways to tax the industry.
I agree shadley, I don’t think it should have been banned, just a proper way to monitor it is all that is required. I’ve updated the post to include 2 interesting points :)
Would be interesting to know how these ‘offenders’ are caught.
I agree! It’s both good and bad.
People I have spoken to say that it’s sad that as South Africans, we can not spend our money as we choose.
I think it’s sad all in all, I think that SARS should find a better way to track the money and stop being greedy, because it really does boil down to that. As a whole, SARS is actually incredibly well run and are becoming more and more efficient, so it sort of just surprises me that they just locked this down..
K is there still a way to gamble somewhere online? casino as vegas is still opperating so what about that?
Silver Sands Casino is still operating – http://www.silversandscasino.net/
But are we still allowed to gamble there? And can they still make payments to south africans without being caught?
Yes, as far as I understand, Silver Sands Casino is still fine for gambling. Put it this way, I know plenty of people who are actively playing without any problems..
tried that site. it doesnt work. i went in but as soon as you want to proceed it gives you an error. think the site is deleted to south africans
I hate these bladdy baboon agents making all the rules and we have to abide!
I play online lotteries in the UK and the company in the UK had informed that this was not part of online gambling and I could still purchase online lottery tickets. Today I got an SMS from FNB stating that online gaming is illegal and to refrain from it?
It’s very up and down, first it was legal, then illegal, then legal, so I don’t the bank really know what the story is..