Online Casino Action: Fact Versus Fiction
You may not be surprised at what you are about to learn about the reality of online casino action in South Africa. As you probably know, one oft heard complaint from the land based (also referred to as brick and mortar) casinos is that online gambling sites pull money and attention away from their sites. Whether the online gambling sites that South Africans visit are legal or illegal, this argument against online casinos offered up by the land based casino crowd is has just been proven wrong. As in not even close to being true.
Here is what this is all about. There is an organization referred to as the Casino Association of South Africa (CASA) that serves as the defacto for brick and mortar casinos in South Africa. Note that 36 of the 38 land based casinos out there are members of CASA. With that in mind, it is rather instructive to take a closer look at the recently released survey results from CASA members.
Note that CASA members include the likes of Tsogo Sun, Sun International, Peermont Global, London’s Club International and others. Anyway, the point you will not want to miss is that gambling revenue for CASA members rose in the 2015-2016 financial year. How much so? Think 6.7% which works out to an impressive R18.2 Billion. Not a small sum by any means. In terms of taxes paid by the CASA members pay attention to the fact that a rather sizable R4.9 Billion in gambling taxes to the South African government coffers.
More to the point, don’t lose sight of the fact that these brick and mortar casinos enjoyed this additional revenue boost at a time when increasing numbers of South African are in fact taking advantage of the numerous online casino game play options that are available. South African law prohibiting such activity notwithstanding, the hard to overlook reality is that South African casino players like and appreciate the option to enjoy their casino game play on the go.
Does that mean they will shun the brick and mortar casinos? Not necessarily. As a matter of fact there are studies in other parts of the world that suggest that the availability of online casino action has the effect of actually bringing in more casino players to the land based casino facilities. Yes, it is certainly true that may not be an expected result. Nevertheless, it can be and is a very real possibility that the availability online casinos actually increases gambling revenue. Obviously, the South African government could and would be better served by legalizing and thus taxing online casino site. All the same, perhaps the CASA members should take on a more proactive position to allow legal online casino action.