The DA Introduces A Remote Gambling Bill

The DA (Democratic Alliance), the main opposition party to the ANC (African National Congress), has introduced a new legislation bill that aims to regulate the online gambling industry within South Africa.

This new bill dubbed The Remote Gambling Bill (or B11-2024 for short), is 36 pages of potential legislation that seeks to introduce a new licensing system and possible regulations for online operators and looks to include means and measures to help prevent harm and damages associated with online gambling.

The DA had this to say about this new proposed bill: “By not regulating this gambling activity, the erosion of the rule of law and criminal activity is being encouraged, while the public is not effectively protected as they are when using land-based gaming operations.”

They continued: “At the same time, a lack of regulation results in revenue worth billions of rand and jobs being lost to other gambling jurisdictions.

The ANC government has shown, over these 16 years, that it has no intention of protecting players and the industry from criminal elements. We have therefore taken it upon ourselves to ensure adequate protection by means of introducing this private member’s bill.”

How Likely Is The Bill To Pass?

Since 1994, the ANC has held the majority vote within the country, meaning they could automatically pass or reject proposed legislation as they saw fit. With elections looming on the 29th of May 2024, polling suggests that the ANC could potentially lose their 50% majority and their ability to admit or deny new bills.

Speaking to this point, the DA had this to say: “It is bills like the Remote Gambling Bill which are vital to protect the most vulnerable people, with the ANC below 50%, we can say that this will be the first of many bills introduced to rescue South Africa.”

What Does The Bill Aim To Achieve?

This new bill will introduce three types of licenses for those operating within the South African iGaming industry. These licenses include:

• Remote Gambling Operator License
• Manufacturer, Supplier of Maintenance Provider License
• Employment License

Applications for these new proposed licenses can be sent to appropriate provincial licensing authorities. Still, the National Gambling Board has the ultimate say regarding whether or not they get approved. Every application will need to be reviewed before any decision is made.

Licenses can be suspended or even revoked should the license holder breach the conditions of their successful application. Holders will also be able to apply for transferal of ownership of their license to another party or forfeit their license altogether.

Marketing and advertising are also proposed to be governed by a strict set of guidelines, including messaging not misleading and promoting responsible gambling.

This bill would see licensees offer users access to responsible gambling tools to promote a safe gaming environment. Under this new bill, online casinos would not be allowed to extend any credit to punters and players can opt out of gambling through a self-exclusion scheme.

We are still waiting to see how much these new proposed licenses will cost and the tax rates for online gambling.

Finally, remote gambling would only be made available to people over the age of 18.

Source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa. B11_2024_Remote_Gambling_bill, 2024. [pdf]