Rob Davies, South African Trade and Industry Minister, recently announced that an amount of R1.25 million ($95,300) has been seized by the government from a number of gamblers prosecuted for illegal online gaming activity. The announcement appears to re-enforce a warning about a coming crackdown that, according to officials, has largely been ignored. The guilty players were not named in Davies’ announcement.
In October of last year Davies cautioned that government authorities intended confiscating any winnings from illegal online gaming activity, with the help of their banks.
The government in Pretoria has also revealed that it is their intention to go after businesses that enable the public to make use of their internet services for the purpose of illegal gambling and will be putting responsibility on internet cafes and businesses such as Starbucks to assist the police in putting a stop to illegal online activity.
It has been revealed that South Africa’s National Gambling Board (NGB) has been endeavoring to identify illegal online gambling and enforcing prohibitions against it by collaborating with banks all across South Africa.
Should account holders make transactions with offshore online gambling sites, the banks will share this information with the NGB, which will then launch an investigation under Section 16 of the National Gambling Act, 2004.
According to South African authorities, those found guilty of gambling online or running an establishment allowing people to gamble online, could face imprisonment and/or a fine of up to R10 million ($760,000) in addition to forfeiture of any winnings to the state.
