South African Gambling Law



Gambling and online gambling have been completely banned on South African territory for a long time. However, as time was passing and governments were changing, the country became more open to this unique way of entertainment.

For example, back in 1673 gambling in the country was heavily restricted, while the Gambling Act of 1965 banned all forms of gambling in South Africa. The only exception to this rule was horse racing because it was considered a sporting activity.

 

Improvements on the topic were noticed one year after gambling was forbidden in the country thanks to The National Gambling Act of 1996. This bill defined various types of gambling, allowed issuing a total of 40 gambling licences and even established the National Gambling Board.

Basic Types of Gambling in South Africa



Currently, there can be distinguished only a few types of gambling in the country. Here are the most important ones:
  • National Lottery - the National Lottery of South Africa was established in 2000 and currently it boasts with an average of 5 million transactions per week;
  • Casino Gambling - all metropolitan areas in the country have their own land based casinos. The largest and the most popular one is the Tusk Rio Casino Resort;
  • Horse Racing - horse racing has always been very popular in South Africa and it remains one of the top types of gambling;
  • Online Gambling - even though most of the options are unlawful, the country is slowly opening to online gambling. Try this link for an online casino operating in South Africa - http://www.zebracasino.co.za/real-money-casinos/.


Online Gambling Regulations



Every province in South Africa has its own gambling and racing board which grants appropriate online gambling licenses to operators. However, they are only allowed to approve online sports bookers and horse racing operators. All other types of interactive gambling like casino, poker and bingo are prohibited. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that South Africans don’t engage in such games; quite on the contrary.

There are numerous offshore gambling options open to players from the country. These gambling sites are reliable, safe and powered by leading casino software providers. They boast with hundreds of games and generous bonus offers. Thus, it can be said that even though online casino gambling is still illegal in the country, it is available to players from South Africa nonetheless.

It should be noted that in 2008 there were attempts to legalise interactive gambling throughout the country via The National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008. However, it hasn’t come into power yet and ever since the situation in the country has been in status quo.