South Africa Prohibits Online Gambling

The North Gauteng High Court in South Africa has decided to make all forms of online gambling illegal, and whoever fails to oblige to the law will have to face a million-dollar fine or up to ten years in prison, says RakeRace.com.

On the 20th August, North Gauteng High Court banned all forms of online gambling in South Africa. The initator of the decision was a lobby by the Gauteng Gambling Board (GGB). The South African gambling industry has been fighting for years to protect its US$2.2 billion (!) gambling monopoly from international gambling service providers.

GGB managed to win judge N. B. Tuchten, who, with this decision, has put an end to all online gambling services, and also forecasts severe sanctions to be expected in the case of breaking the law. Whoever fails to abide the new laws will face a US$1.36 million fine or even ten years in prison.

This ban did come as a surprise, considering the fact that the South African government has been considering legalizing online gambling licences, but no agreement was born during parliamentary debate.

Lucky Lukhwareni of the GGB made the following statement on the issue:

”We approached the media to alert them of the judgement which makes online casino operations illegal, and if they continue we will have them arrested and fight for conviction.”

Piggs Peak, one of the biggest South African online gambling companies has already declared that they are not accepting the decision and will appeal against the ban, which they characterized as  "completely incorrect”. They continue their reasoning with stating that they are operating from the neighboring Swaziland, and they will only have to follow Swaziland’s own gambling rules.