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SA regulation for online gambling
2011-10-11
Rules that address the licensing of net betting operators were held back to finalise thoughts on the Betting Review Commission Report, Nkoatse Ernest Mashamaite, assistant director of controlled industries at the Dept of Trade and Industry lately told MyBroadband. The report is with the Parliamentary Portfolio Panel for Trade and Industry, Mashamaite claimed, that the board invited public inquests which will begin mid-October 2011. Online betting isn't lawful in S. A. right now, with the Nation's Betting Board caution that offenders might be fined up to R10 million, receive up to ten years imprisonment, or both. Piggs Top Casino, a betting site which is approved in Swaziland, went all of the way to the High Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein to have the ban on online betting lifted in SA, but their appeal failed. "Interactive betting was illegal even before the choice of the High Court of Appeal," Mashamaite recounted. "What we had were some operators from foreign jurisdictions making an attempt to test our legal system." Betting Review Commission suggestions In its report, the Betting Review Commission asserted that online betting is here for good and that executive would do well to not take a prohibition position, but instead control online or remote betting holistically. Among the suggestions is that the number of interactive betting licenses now suggested should be increased from ten. This is to deal with the inclusion of gambling exchanges, online bookmakers, and other third parties, the commission said. Mashamaite suggested that the report is still open to public comment and that interested parties are welcome to make submissions to the Portfolio Council . "There will be nothing about interactive betting till the Parliamentary process, as far as the report is concerned have been exhausted".
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