South African parliamentarians recommend online gambling regulation

South African members of parliament serving on the National Assembly’s Trade and Industry Oversight Committee during the recent hearings on internet gambling have recommended that the pastime should be legalised, the Independent newspaper reported Friday.

The committee has recommended that the Department of Trade and Industry should draft appropriate legislation because, it says, online gambling is a fact of life, but the economic benefits – tax revenues and local jobs – are not accruing to government in an industry estimated to be worth R320 million back in 2009.

During its deliberations, the committee heard from a wide range of experts and considered the research report of the Gambling Review Commission

Democratic Alliance MP Geordin Hill-Lewis, who was part of the team that drafted the report, said SA could not continue to refuse to legalise online gambling. He said online gambling was happening and the only consequence was that “SA derives no economic benefit from it”.

The committee recommended that forms of internet gambling which should be legalised include slot machines and table games, bingo, sports betting and betting against the totalisator.

The report of the Gambling Review Commission has recommended that a maximum number for online gambling licences should be set.