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South Africa’s National Gambling Board (NGB) has launched a sweeping offensive against the country ’s burgeoning online gaming sector, directing Provincial Licensing Authorities to terminate the operations of platforms offering interactive casino games. The directive marks a decisive end to a regulatory grey area that allowed sports betting operators to transform into de facto digital casinos.
For years, local sports betting platforms have utilized provincial licenses to offer online slots, roulette, and blackjack. These operators argued that they were not running a casino, but rather offering fixed-odds betting on the outcomes of casino games, a semantic distinction that effectively bypassed national prohibitions.
The NGB has now firmly rejected this interpretation, asserting that the only legal form of online gambling in South Africa remains betting on physical events, such as sports and horse racing.
“The National Gambling Board has issued a formal notice to all Provincial Licensing Authorities clarifying the regulatory status of remote gambling in South Africa,” the board stated.
“The notice provides guidance on compliance obligations in respect of remote gambling infrastructure and applicable technical standards”.
The regulator’s emboldened stance follows a landmark Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling. The court held that bookmakers in Gauteng are prohibited from offering roulette games without a specific casino license. While some industry players argued the ruling was limited to one province and one game, the NGB has applied the judgment as a national mandate.
Lungile Dukwana, the NGB’s acting CEO, clarified that the National Gambling Act expressly prohibits interactive gambling until a formal legislative framework is signed into law by the President.
“A person must not engage in or make available an interactive game except as authorised in terms of this Act or any other national law,” the Act states, defining such games as those played through an electronic agent accessed over the Internet.
Central to the NGB’s crackdown is a strategic technical de-certification coordinated with the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS). The NGB revealed that Remote Gambling Servers (RGS), the core engines that power online casino games do not meet lawful technical standards.
The NRCS has formally directed that it will no longer issue or renew certifications for these servers. Without a valid Letter of Certification, the hardware used to host online slots and table games becomes effectively illegal contraband under the Act.
The NGB has instructed provincial authorities to align their enforcement with this legal clarification, requiring them to prohibit the use of RGS and take appropriate enforcement action against non-compliant operators.
“The NGB will monitor implementation of this notice across all provinces and will report to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition on compliance levels, enforcement outcomes, and the broader industry impact,” said Dukwana.
The move is expected to trigger a significant contraction in the local digital betting market, which generated over R75 billion in gross gambling revenue in the last fiscal year. Operators now face a stark choice, return to traditional sports-only wagering or face the confiscation of winnings and potential criminal prosecution.
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