Until relatively recently, online gambling law was quite a grey area in South Africa. The main reason for this was that the relevant laws and statutes covering gambling were not up to date in terms of these new forms of gambling made possible by the Internet. So online gambling and poker became popular among South Africans. The most well-known 'local' online casino, Piggs Peak (situated in the neighbouring territory of Swaziland), offered both online casino gambling and online poker to South African players. It flourished for a good few years.

• South Africa Online Gambling Lawyers
• South Africa Online Gambling Laws

Online gambling is also spreading rapidly throughout South Africa, and players there are welcome to compete on globally leading platforms like PokerStars, William Hill, and the like. The online gambling industry here includes poker, casino gambling, and sports betting, and the South African. Until relatively recently, online gambling law was quite a grey area in South Africa. The main reason for this was that the relevant laws and statutes covering gambling were not up to date in terms of these new forms of gambling made possible by the Internet. So online gambling and poker became popular among South Africans. Legal Online Gambling in South Africa. In terms of interactive gaming (online gambling), section 11 of the gambling act 2004 issued by the NGB still remains firm, it states that: “A person must not engage in or make available an interactive game except as authorised in terms of this Act or any other national law”. The gambling venues licensed in South Africa are required to pay taxes, and those gambling sites based offshore and in other countries will be paying tax in the country where they are both licensed and based. However, you will not have to pay any taxes on your winnings no matter how much you win when gambling online.

Then the situation changed, as the spotlight fell on this hitherto effectively unregulated industry.

The South African government promulgated the National Gambling Act of 2004, which made it illegal to engage in what it termed 'interactive gambling services' and the offering or advertising of these services for South Africans. By 'interactive' the law refers to Internet games. This covers both casino games and poker games, whether offered by operators inside South Africa or outside of its borders. But there is an important distinction that is identified.

While online casino and poker games were made unlawful, online sports betting and online horse race betting were specifically made legal. This is as long as the operator is fully licensed by one of the South African provincial gambling licensing boards. So, for example, the most popular South African sports betting website, SportingBet, is fully licensed by the Western Cape Gambling Board and operates completely legally inside the country. It is used by thousands of sports bettors every day.

In the meantime, however, Piggs Peak continued to offer both online casino and online poker, effectively under the impression that online gambling offered from an offshore location was not adequately covered in the Gambling Act. They took this all the way to the North Gauteng High Court in an effort to get a legal stamp of approval on their services, but were ultimately unsuccessful and were forced to bar South Africans from playing.

In concert with this, South African banks do not allow bank accounts and credit cards to be used to transfer funds to online casinos. However, it is still possible to do so using online banking methods such as NETeller or uKash, etc.

At the same time it was – and still is – recognised that online gambling is a huge industry that attracts many South Africans, and that the problem is not so much one of whether it should or should not be legalised, but more one of how to regulate it. To this end the National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008 was drawn up with a view to bringing it before Parliament in order to have online gambling legalised and regulated. The amendment attracted a lot of opposition from land-based casinos, for many of the same reasons as the situation in America, where these casinos feared losing customers and revenue to their online competition. The fact remains, thought, that there is currently legislation on the books and quite possibly in the pipeline that will make online gambling legal for South Africans.

While the above is quite clear, there are of course plenty of overseas online casinos that offer online gambling to South Africans, and online payment methods that can be used. And there remains every possibility that online gambling will soon be legalised in the country, once the National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008 goes through Parliament and is signed into law.

Of course sports betting is fully legal for South Africans. At the moment betting on horse racing predominates, but as more sports betting websites emerge and broadband and mobile Internet access increases, this is likely to change, with a swing towards sports betting. South Africa is, after all, a sports mad nation.

Companies like PwC expect gambling activities and revenues to continue to grow, indicating that the country's appetite shows no sign of waning. And in the face of this, the legalisation and regulation of online gambling looks likely to follow shortly. This is especially buoyed by the realisation that in South Africa, as in the rest of the world, the most important factors are safe access and responsible gambling. Given that South Africans have ways of circumventing the laws, this becomes even more of an imperative.

In light of the widespread availability of online gambling and the Internet's ability to make national borders permeable, it appears to be in everyone's interests for the National Gambling Amendment of 2008 to become law, so that the industry can operate transparently, safely and responsibly for South African players. It has been reported by PwC that the South African government had plans to issue ten online casino gambling licences in the period around 2009, but this has obviously not happened yet. We await the next roll of the dice...

Is SA online gambling legal? This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions in the country and many may have found themselves wondering whether playing their favourite games is a move that could see them facing a hefty fine or worse, jail time. Well, online gambling in SA is currently in a grey area and though there is a lot of legislation governing it, there are a few loopholes that make it open to interpretation. If you’re concerned about playing online, understanding the history of the laws passed about online gambling as well as the current state of affairs may go a long way to giving you some insight into the situation.

Going Back a Few Years

Gambling in South Africa as a whole has had a pretty rocky past and though today you can visit big entertainment hubs such as Emperor’s Palace, Montecasino and Grand West Casino and play just about any game your heart desires, there was a time when playing any games for a chance to win money was against the law. The 1965 Gambling Act saw horse racing become legal in South Africa but other games were completely banned.
Of course, as tends to happen when governments place a ban on any popular form of entertainment, people sidestepped the government and started setting up casinos that were illegal and by the time the 1994 democratic elections came along, there were thousands of these establishments in operation. After Nelson Mandela became the first democratically elected president of South Africa, he changed the law to allow some gambling in the country and licensed casinos were established in which people could play the games they enjoyed. Many people thought that the next logical step would see online gambling becoming legal but this was vetoed in 2010 by the Gauteng Gambling Board.

How About Today?

So if the term legal online casino is a paradox in SA, you may be wondering how it’s possible that some people play and haven’t been thrown in jail. Well, it’s not that simple. A 2008 Act states that the government was willing to legalise online casinos, which are not considered to be ‘illegal’ as much as ‘not regulated’. The difference here is key to understanding what you can and can’t do in regards to online casinos. Many people interpret this to mean that they cannot play at an online casino that actually operates within the borders of the country, that is, it has offices and employees in the country. This could be interpreted to mean that so-called ‘legal’ online casinos are those that offer services to South African players, but don’t actually operate in South Africa.
Two very interesting parts of SA online gambling legalisation (which can be found on the National Gambling Board website: http://www.ngb.org.za/faqs.aspx) state that, “A person must not engage in or make available an interactive game except as authorised in terms of this Act or any other national law.” Additionally, it states that “Online betting is legal with a licensed South African bookmaker.” These statements are confusing to the layperson, to say the least, which is why many people say that the law regarding SA online casinos is open to interpretation.

Should SA Online Casinos be Legal?

South Africa Online Gambling Lawyers

There are many academics, especially economists, who are of the opinion that online gambling should be completely legal in South Africa and they may have good reason to think this. A recent Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) report on gambling revenues stated that in 2014, the sector brought revenues of R23.9-billion, an amount that is predicted to rise to R30.3-billion in 2019. In terms of taxes, it was reported that the total amount received by the government in taxes from casinos was a staggering R2.5-billion in 2014 with sports betting (especially horse racing) and EBTs (Electronic Bingo Terminals) doing well in terms of revenue collection.
These figures are based solely on legal casinos, the national lottery, EBTs and sports betting and do not take into account the online casinos that are currently considered to be ‘not regulated’. Considering the rather uncertain economic climate South Africa is currently facing, and the high taxes both private citizens and businesses face, economists have posed a very important question in regards to the legality of online casinos in South Africa, i.e. how much money could be going into South Africa’s coffers if online gambling was legal? Though this would be a very difficult figure to predict, it does set the mind to wondering just how much larger our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could be if the government declared SA online gambling legal.

South Africa Online Gambling Laws

The Future of Online Casinos in SA

So what will the future bring? Will we see the South African government give SA players the chance to play when and where they want to? In all likelihood, this is not something the government is too focused on given the current state of affairs but should a more permanent Finance Minister be selected, we may see a big change how the moneymaking potential of online casinos is handled.