Toothless Gambling Board

Gambling board toothless against rogue operators


There is a lot of illegal online gambling occurring that the National Gambling Board is not aware of, says CEO Baby Tyawa.
The National Gambling Board is powerless to stop international online casinos illegally offering their services to South African punters, because the Internet is virtual and the board does not have any international jurisdiction.

Instead, the only action the board can take is to write letters to international regulators, and try and catch local punters out through its relationship with the South African Reserve Bank and the local banking association.

Early last month, ITWeb uncovered that, despite online gambling being made illegal last September by a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling, South Africans can easily access international casinos and place bets in rands.

Hands tied

National Gambling Board CEO Baby Tyawa says that, unless a casino's server is located in SA, the body cannot shut it down. “There is a lot of illegal online gambling going on that we are not aware of.”

The only recourse it has is to write letters to international regulators asking them to liaise with the operator to inform them that the body is compiling a blacklist, which may limit their chances of being awarded a licence if online gambling is legalised, says Tyawa.

The Gambling Review Commission has recommended that online wagering be made legal, and more than 10 licences issued. However, the current framework is unlikely to be changed for at least another two years, due to the lengthy processes required.

The challenge is that online gambling is virtual, and the National Gambling Board does not know where it is happening, says Tyawa. “We are the first to accept it's an impossible mission.”

Lost bet

Tyawa says the board attempts to track punters through its relationship with the South African Reserve Bank and the Banking Council of SA, which allows it to trace credit card transactions. However, sometimes the bids are hidden as “leisure” and cannot be traced, she says.

Since the decision was handed down, no one has been arrested for illegal online gambling, says Tyawa. Although penalties have been imposed, those for online gambling are lumped together with other illicit wagering, she says.

Punters who gamble illegally face penalties of up to R10 million, or jail time. In addition, they will forfeit any winnings if caught, says Tyawa. These winnings go into a trust account and end up back at National Treasury.

However, says Tyawa, the gambling board is set to launch an awareness campaign to inform punters that they will lose their winnings, and will work closely with other departments to cut down on illegal gambling, which can be used to launder money.

This is an interesting shift,as I posted on another thread the other day.When the Piggs case on interactive gambling was handed down,they stated that banks who allow transactions to unlicenced sites will face enormous fines(this is how the US controls its citizens) but as I pointed out on that thread the banks are processing transactions daily into Silversands and ignoring the situation??????? Why?
I tested how closely cards were being monitored by making a deposit of R25000 last year,into Betfair,to test the water.
I got a letter from the Reserve Bank offering me a 20% admission of guilt fine or they would prosecute.I responded that I would defend and they withdrew the charges with a "stern warning".
Sorry but we know that is out of character..............lol.(I have obviously kept that correspondence 'just in case')
As we have debated ad-nauseum,It appears that there are a lot of these issues that the Govt disapproves of,regards as illegal,then looks to the law only to find it lacking in the necessary legislation.This statement sounds like an admission of that situation.
Why ,suddenly, is action against banks not an option.........is that legislation missing too?

Without a rule that specifically prohibits something, I see those watchdogs do try to control things by trying to use complimentary rules like trying to get the banks to help solve their problems.

It looks to be mostly ineffective though because it needs a busy bank to try and identify what their customer is doing with money and they don't care and don't have a system in place to do so. I say mostly because I know of one occasion when the teeth did come out and all the banks cooperated to freeze all the accounts of one player. Imagine what must have transpired to pull that off.

Those gambling boards mainly manage the licencees so possibly you are expecting a lot for them to police sneaky punters too in addition to the service providers.

A paradox?
All South African banks will launch a new product offering this year, which will allow all South Africans to open a Retail International bank account with a local bank.
Clients can nominate the currency in which the account must operate ($,€,¥,£ etc).
True that a client can only transfer around €475,000 to this account from any local Rand account.
This is a life time limit set by the South african government and is adjusted from time to time.
A client can receive monies from any Debtor or pay any international account from this bank account.
The banks computer systems does not exclude payments to any specific creditor accounts.
So who will track and trace payments from these accounts?
The banks - never - reputational risk is too high for the bank, cannot afford to upset customers!

So who is going to police this?

Sorry all, but I am a bit confused here. In the Vaal there are 5 of these online lounges. Are you telling me that these are now allowed to operate without a license? Cash is going across the table and dividends are being paid out. No licence, no action?

If you read the statement kicking off this thread,the word clueless springs to mind.
Louis,I don't think the people who should be able to answer your question have the remotest idea and are the most confused!