The Online Gambling Story
There are nine provinces within South Africa and each of these has a gambling and racing board. In order to offer online betting, bookmakers must be licensed by one of these boards. The largest is the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board (WCGRB).
As far as the laws go regarding online gambling, the National Gambling Act 2004 prohibited offering both interactive gambling services and engaging in interactive games via the internet. This related specifically to games such as casino, poker and bingo. Online sports betting and horse race betting, as well as the business of bookmaking was determined completely legal and lawful in the country, as long as the person conducting such holds the necessary licence(s). When the National Gambling Amendment Act 2008 was published in July of that year, it was meant to be an attempt to legalise such interactive gambling. This was confronted by the interested parties, those being land-based gambling houses and anti-money laundering authorities. For this reason, the Act still hasn’t come into power.
When the year of 2010 rolled around, even online gambling offered through servers located outside of the country was banned. Consequently, both offering gambling services online and the act of gambling online became illegal, with the continued exception of horse racing and sports betting.