23-08-2007 Online gambling bill raises concerns of the South African Financial Intelligence Centre

The FIC said it was concerned that loopholes in the National Gambling Amendment Bill could facilitate money laundering and proposed to improve the bill to include licensing and probity checks of interactive gambling operators.

The FIC also recommended that licensed operators should be required to subject themselves to domestic laws and that unlicensed operators should be blocked from carrying on business in SA and block the flow of funds to them.

In related news, the National Responsible Gambling Programme said remote gambling was not yet a serious source of gambling problems in South Africa but it could have become one if internet gambling remained prohibited.

If regulated, internet gambling operators could offer players a facility for setting limits to their losses over a given time period, said Peter Collins of the South African National Responsible Gambling Programme.

Elliott Kernohan, legal cousel for Betfair in South Africa, told Moneyweb that he believes the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Gambling Board have gone to great lengths to research international gambling regulations and to construct a responsible internet gambling bill.

Asked why Betfair didn't come into South Africa before, Kernohan said: "It's much more important for Betfair as an organisation to ensure that we're able to say to our players, look, we provide the standards of probity and protection and safeguards against problem gambling that you would expect to have in your home country. So where there is a country that takes the view that gambling should be regulated safely, we very much prefer to come in the front door, rather than be characterised and perceived as some of these other operators are."