Online Casino laws in South Africa
Online Casino laws in South Africa
Gambling. An important topic in the news, all over the world and particularly so in South Africa.
Some are for gambling and the benefits it can bring to a country, while other countries see the importance of restricting gambling to protect the people from gambling addiction and losing money.
Every country has different gambling rules and regulations. This is South Africa’s bible of gambling and the rules and regulations surrounding it.
Overview of the casino laws of South Africa
In 1965 South Africa introduced the Gambling Act with horse racing wagering the only legal form of gambling. In 2004 The National Gambling Act was introduced, which prohibited online forms of gambling.
In 2008 The National Gambling Amendment Act was mooted but never made it past the gate keepers, with the bill aimed at legalising casino, poker and bingo games on the web. It is still in the pipelines to be enacted but there is serious resistance.
So in essence the 2004 National Gambling Act is still active, which rules out all forms of online poker, online bingo and online horse betting.
Having said this the laws are very wishy washy and don’t really address offshore casinos, with many of the world’s best casinos still accepting South African players. These casinos might be licensed in places like Malta or the United Kingdom, highly reputable jurisdictions in the online casino world.
South Africa has different rules and regulations for online casinos and normal casinos. Before 1965, no gambling was allowed. It was illegal to go to a casino and it was illegal to open and run a casino. It didn’t matter if you were running the casino from your home or a business.
The only gambling that was legal was betting on horses. However, during 1970 there were a couple of illegal casinos that were operating. Even if it was illegal. With the new government in 1994, the laws and regulations did change for casinos. They did make it legal to go to a casino and to manage a casino. However, this was only for land-based casinos. There were no discussions about real money online casino laws.
What casino games can I play legally in South Africa?
There are numerous real money casino games that South Africans can play on the Internet, although the only regulated options are at online bookmakers. These bookies allow South Africans to play live casino games and lotto, but slots and other casino games are banned.
Some of the most popular casino games you will find at overseas casinos targeting South Africa include:
So are online casinos legal?
Because casinos and gambling were legalized in 1994, many people thought it included online gambling. However, this wasn’t the case. There weren’t many discussions about online casinos before 2010 because not many people had internet access to the internet for opening online casino accounts.
The casino laws of South Africa after 2010
Something that you should understand is that there is a huge difference between the normal casino gambling laws and the online casino gambling laws.
Since 1994 it was legal to operate and manage a casino. It was also legal to go to a registered casino to gamble. The lottery was also allowed and many people started to use this as an opportunity to win money. But, there was something that only a few people knew. And, this is that the online gambling has different rules and regulations in South Africa.
The rule states that it is legal to play at online casinos, as long as they are not based in South Africa. This is because it is illegal to open and run an online casino if the base is in South Africa. Meaning that you can gamble online, using other country’s online casinos.
However, the question now remains is gambling something that should be legalised in South Africa? Many people are seeing the problems of regulated real money gambling, but there are so many good reasons why this is something that should be considered
For example, the revenue of these casinos is a lot. Meaning that the taxes from the online casinos can be really high and makes a steady income for the country. Especially, in a country that is still growing and where poverty is a serious problem.
The future of online casinos in South Africa
No one knows what the future of online casinos in South Africa is going to hold. They might legalize it in a couple of years, or even tomorrow. The debates are still going strong, however, most of the people don’t agree with online casinos. Even if this means more revenue for the country.
The only good news is that you can still gamble online. As long as it isn’t a South African online casino.