South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) party is mobilising efforts to support the Remote Gambling Bill to overhaul existing fragmented and monologue gambling laws.
Led by Toby Chance, the party’s representative in the National Assembly’s Trade, Industry & Competition Committee, the DA is now looking to leverage its newly-gained power to gain insight into its proposed Remote Gambling Bill that will close its treatment of texts on 8 December.
The party is seeking stakeholder feedback on proposals to amend the National Gambling Amendment Act 2008 and is taking feedback until the end of this week.
Political leverage
The political dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) – which until this year was marked by a 16-year monopolistic rule – has continuously failed to fully implement a comprehensive set of online gambling controls.
The earlier May elections in South Africa brought strong signs of shifting public opinions after the ANC suffered a loss of parliamentary majority for the first time in close to three decades.
While still scoring the most votes in the polls, the ANC no longer had the required seats to form a government single-handedly, leading it to a search for coalition partners.
One of those partners who is currently part of the governing coalition is the DA which, under different circumstances, would be considered an opposition to the ANC.
Time for change
Having been two years in the making, the draft first made its way to Parliament this April – just prior to the elections and when the ANC was still the sole ruling party.
The DA argues that the ANC has so far lacked reasonable actions to adequately regulate the online gambling industry space. The bill looks to introduce structured protections for the vertical that will be on par with the securities that the land-based sector in South Africa currently enjoys.
These protections are envisioned to include stringent financial controls, a unified mandatory framework to deter criminal activity, instruments for the effective prevention of minor participation, as well as the adoption of sustainable growth strategies to ensure the sector’s long-term stability. It also aims to provide mechanisms for betting integrity, responsible gambling and player protections.
In addition, the DA is pushing for a new licensing system covering “operator, manufacturer, supplier, and maintenance provider licenses” that puts the relevant duties into the hands of individual provincial authorities rather than the current centralised model which is headed by the National Gambling Board (NGB).
“It is Bills like the Remote Gambling Bill that are vital to protect the most vulnerable, and with the ANC below the 50% (governing majority mark), the DA can ensure that this will be the first of many Bills introduced to rescue South Africa,” the party concluded.
Stakeholders wishing to provide input into the DA’s proposals have until 8 December to do so.
