South Africa has recently adopted a new strategy to fight online gambling. By punishing payment processors, the government hopes to discourage citizens from taking part in activities at online casinos – but the method has yet to prove itself effective, and igaming activity is increasing throughout the country.
According to The Citizen newspaper, the National Gambling Board indicates that online gambling seems to be on the upswing throughout South Africa. Tlotliso Polaki of the National Gambling Board states that illegal operators have fooled citizens into believing that online gambling is, indeed, legal. However, the government is still fighting to ban all operators.
Operators have been encouraged to block residents of South Africa from accessing their domains. However, the country presents a profitable market for online casino operators and they have been reluctant to cut out this valuable stream of revenue.
Unfortunately, the risks are great for operators that continue to run their businesses illegally in South Africa. According to the country’s National Gambling Act, anyone caught engaging in the activity will be fined 10 million Rand ($1 million USD) or must serve 10 years in jail. The government is also going after payment processors who handle transactions between online gambling websites and players.
