For years, the Silversands online casino operated illegally and reaped many benefits due to the lack of regulation in the internet gambling business. The NGB (National Gambling Board) aims to change all of this as South Africa looks to introduce online gambling regulation. Following years of discussion and no results, the board is finally taking strict action to put an end to the country’s illegal gambling operations. However, online gambling in this jurisdiction is overwhelmingly difficult to control as South Africa has previously struggled to come up with ways to efficiently regulated the web-based environment.
Probable Regulations
The regulations proposed by NGB imply that South African citizens who want to gamble online will need to open an account with a local bank, an account which can only be used for online gaming endeavors. Players are only allowed to make payments via credit card and their accounts must continue to abide by requirements of traditional banking standards and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act. The NGB says that it will work collectively with banks to monitor accounts, stating the players will not be allowed to have more than R20000 in their accounts at any time. The Board intends to issue ten licenses to South African operators that have their servers located in the country. That is when, and if regulation is ever achieved. Online gambling is naturally a hard sector to administer and industry regulation has been chaotic and disorganized across the board. For now, lawmakers in South Africa are hoping that they can at least bring some level of control to their sector of the industry.
Guidance in Antigua Barbuda
In efforts to make their online gambling regulations a success, South African authorities have turned to Antigua Barbuda, hoping to leverage the expertise of this efficiently regulated jurisdiction and use it as a measuring stick. Last year, South Africa implemented a remote gambling legislation, creating a framework for licensing and a body that would serve as the regulatory regime. The country is now focused on regulating the industry and following through on enforcement of the law’s operational provisions. It looks to Antigua Barbuda for some much needed guidance on how to accomplish in the best possible way.
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Last month, members of the South African NGB spent a week in Antigua Barbuda sharing ideas with the FSRC’s (Financial Services Regulatory Commission) Division of Gaming. The NGB carries a lot of respect for the FSRC which has nearly 15 experience in the field of online gambling regulation. What they left with was the confidence and knowledge of being able to put effective regulations in place for the country of South Africa.
The Challenge Ahead
South Africa has a large battle on its hands as it must determine how to regulate foreign gambling operators and ensure that local operations remain competitive. This is a significant issue as there are a large number of sites based offshore that receive much lower tax rates while benefitting from the business of South African players. At this point, nothing has been etched in stone and operators like Silversands continue to profit because there are still no regulations or comprehensive legislation in place to stop them.
