South African gamblers are providing a ready market for illegal international Internet casinos, which have thrived online while the government has delayed the implementation of legislation to regulate Internet gambling.
This was among criticisms levelled by gambling treatment activists and experts at the government during public hearings before the Gambling Review Commission in Durban yesterday.
Other concerns were about money laundering in casinos, under-age gambling, the ineffective banning of problem gamblers and a rise in sports gambling.
The commission is hosting public hearings across the country to gauge the socio-economic impacts of gambling and the effectiveness of policy and the regulatory framework.
Wayne Lurie, an attorney who was a special adviser to a 2004 committee which drafted a report on interactive gambling for the Department of Trade and Industry, said the country was in a "legal quagmire" over the issue of online gambling and the Interactive Gambling Act, which was promulgated in 2008.
The act, providing for 10 online gambling operators, has not yet been implemented because adjoining regulations still need to be approved by Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies.
"We have casinos operating from offshore in the country and if we scratch the surface, we will find illegal interactive casinos," Lurie said.
"The industry cries out for regulation. Unlike land-based environments, every transaction can be monitored and the exact tax can be monitored. It's the easiest environment to regulate."
Lurie said there was "no strong ban of interactive gambling... that will stand up in court. This needs to be addressed urgently. It's embarrassing to the legislature."
Tyrone Dobbin, a bookmaker who runs Great Odds, which uses the Internet as a communication tool for legal betting, said he hoped the government would not prohibit online gambling, which would drive it underground.
He said online casinos were being run from Gibraltar, Malta and the Isle of Man by South Africans who hired postal addresses there but targeted the local market.
"I watch these foreign illegals establishing a foothold in the country without the benefit of tax. They are moving into our borders where the authorities are not able to regulate."
Lurie said there was "no strong ban of interactive gambling... that will stand up in court. This needs to be addressed urgently. It's embarrassing to the legislature."
Tyrone Dobbin, a bookmaker who runs Great Odds, which uses the Internet as a communication tool for legal betting, said he hoped the government would not prohibit online gambling, which would drive it underground.
He said online casinos were being run from Gibraltar, Malta and the Isle of Man by South Africans who hired postal addresses there but targeted the local market.
"I watch these foreign illegals establishing a foothold in the country without the benefit of tax. They are moving into our borders where the authorities are not able to regulate."
An SAPS investigator said he had arrested criminals who confessed to having a gambling addiction, and he had "followed the money" to casinos.
"Often, people steal money to support their gambling. Casinos (are) the best haven for them to spend large amounts of money. A lot of the criminals use the casinos as a form of money laundering," he said.
National Council on Problem Gambling (Gamhelp) director, Raj Govender, said he was concerned about the rise in sports betting, gambling-linked suicides and casinos that entertained banned gamblers.
"In South Africa, we are trying to get all types of gambling as they have in the US and the UK, but we are a new country and so much has come to people so quickly, they don't know what to do with it. Kids are gambling. There are gambling machines in tuckshops and children are taking the Lotto," Govender said.
He claimed banning was not effected in casinos until the gambler won money, which was then confiscated.
Charl Faurie, the general manager of the Casino Association of South Africa, said a national programme aimed at assisting problem gamblers had been hailed internationally as an example for other countries to follow.
The National Gambling Board, he said, was responsible for a national database of people excluded from gaming establishments.
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