Wakeup Call Needed For South Africa Government
Enough with the delaying and putting off. The legislators from South Africa need to peek outside their offices and take note of what is going on all around them. As any South African will tell you, online gambling in South Africa is technically “illegal”. Sure it is, but that does nothing to satisfy the apparent desire of many South Africans to play a round or two or three at their favorite online casino.
Hey, like it or not, it’s happening each and every day. Online casino access throughout South Africa that is. What’s the big draw? Consider the question from the other side of the table. South Africa turns out to be an extraordinarily profitable market for online casino operators. Some online gambling analysts make the case that the South African online gambling market represents some of the highest value online gambling players anywhere in the world.
Sure there are a few hurdles along the way. Funding online casino accounts from within South Africa can sometimes be burdensome using traditional methods such as regular bank accounts or even credit cards. Yet, the online casino player has other options such as NETeller or MoneyBookers which function as a sort of e-wallet.
Back to the international online casino operators. They see a profitable and enthusiastic online casino fan base. There are relatively few barriers to offering their services to residents of South Africa. These operators know that the South African government does not have the resources even if it has the jurisdiction to go after these operators.
So why doesn’t the government of South Africa want to legalize online gambling? Perhaps they will, remember there is reportedly a bill being introduced this year to do just that. The point is that for a country that could certainly do with a few more resources to fund their programs, one would think that the Legislature would be falling all over themselves to make online casinos legal and make them legal today.
Consider all the money that is being sent to offshore casino operators that will most likely never find its way back to South Africa. Just that point alone should be enough to inspire the legislature to take action once this bill makes its way through the process. Perhaps this year will be the last year that online casinos are illegal in South Africa.