One of South Africa’s biggest events, the Big Africa Summit, is scheduled for November 4-6 in Johannesburg and will center around the online gambling industry.
The event will focus on the latest cutting-edge technology and its various applications in the industry. It will also address the issues South Africa faces in online gambling. Social online gambling will be discussed, in addition to modifications for methods of payment.
In 2004, Online-Casinos.com reports, the country passed The National Gambling Act which outlawed interactive gambling services and online games. Later, the National Gambling Amendment Act of 2008 served as attempt to legalize and regulate interactive gambling. However, the amendment was met with stark criticism from land-based casinos and anti-money laundering authorities. As such, the amendment has yet to be approved.
In August of 2010, the North Gauteng High Court judgement ruled for South Africa to ban online gambling offered to its citizens through foreign servers located outside of its jurisdiction.
Province licensed horse racing and online sports betting remain legal in the country. Each of the nine South African provinces has a gambling and racing board. Bookies must be licensed by one of those boards in order to offer services legally. Six percent is deducted from horse race winnings to cover a South African Value Added Tax. However, there is no additional deduction from gambling winnings, as it is not considered taxable income.
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