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After two years of drafting and consultations, the Remote Gambling Bill (B11-2024) was finally introduced to South Africa’s parliament by the main opposition party last week as the ruling ANC could lose its majority for the first time in 30 years in the upcoming election on May 29.
The long-awaited update came just days after the even longer stalled government-backed National Gambling Amendment Bill finally received an official update.
The Remote Gambling Bill aims to provide a regulatory framework for online gambling activities, promote responsible gambling, tackle underage gambling and prevent gambling from being used to support criminal activities.
Under the proposal, issuing the three different licence types would be the responsibility of provincial authorities, not the National Gambling Board.
Local provincial authorities will also be responsible for supervising and enforcing compliance.
There would be three licence types available: a remote gambling operator licence; a remote gambling manufacturer, supplier or maintenance provider licence; and a remote gambling employment licence.
Advertising on radio and TV would be limited to appearing between 8pm and 6am and “should not be broadcast between programmes where the audience is expected to be below the age of 18 years”, according to the bill.
The bill was introduced by the Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dean Macpherson, a member of South Africa’s second-largest political party.
He hopes it will regulate online gambling after the Africa National Congress (ANC) party’s “16-year lapse”.
“This initiative comes in response to the significant oversight by the ANC in failing to provide adequate protection and regulation within the online gambling industry,” Macpherson wrote on April 17.
“With the upcoming May 29 national and provincial elections, the ANC looks set to drop far below the 50 percent majority mark, which means that in the new parliament, it will no longer have its majority to reject legislation on frivolous grounds only out of spite because it came from an opposition party.”
The South African National Gambling Board (NGB) has previously told parliament there is a need to reform gambling laws, in particular around online gambling, as despite it being “illegal” it is “still rife”.
Online gambling in South Africa is prohibited, but online betting licences are available and are issued by the nine different provincial lottery authorities (PLAs). Live dealer casino games are also permitted in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga.
A separate National Gambling Amendment Bill (B27B), introduced in its current form by the ANC’s trade minister in 2019, was referred to a mediation committee on April 12, according to a parliamentary legislation update.
This bill provides for a raft of amendments to the National Gambling Act 2004, including the dissolution of the National Gambling Board and the establishment of the National Gambling Regulator, as well as providing new powers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators, and for the forfeiture of unlawful winnings to the National Gambling Regulator.
In December 2019, the National Gambling Amendment Bill appeared to be stalled after it once again failed to gain majority approval from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). However, the bill is now stated as being in the select committee stage.
South Africa’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) amounted to R28.2bn (€1.36bn) during the 2023/24 financial year, with 59 percent of GGR generated by betting and 30.5 percent generated by casinos, according to recent figures provided by the NGB to parliament.
Out of the provincial licensing authorities, the Western Cape and Gauteng accounted for the largest share of GGR; however, Gauteng did see its share drop “significantly”, while Mpumalanga’s share increased from 13.8 percent in the previous year to 20.8 percent, according to the press release.
