{"id":2132,"date":"2025-05-05T06:08:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=2132"},"modified":"2026-04-19T17:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T20:20:23","slug":"sa-responsible-gambling-foundation-calls-for-a-multi-cross-departmental-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/sa-responsible-gambling-foundation-calls-for-a-multi-cross-departmental-policy","title":{"rendered":"SA Responsible Gambling Foundation calls for a multi-cross departmental policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The SARGF says legislative loopholes may threaten vulnerable groups of people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Africa.- The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF)<\/strong> has issued an urgent plea to government departments to adopt a unified policy approach to tackling problem gambling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has demanded action saying problem gambling has now been recognised as a mental health disorder<\/a><\/strong>. And it doesn’t just want action from one corner of government. It wants a multi-departmental policy involving Trade, Social Development, Education and Health to close critical legislative gaps to protect the most at-risk citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of this call is the stark reality that current systems are falling short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No one should face this struggle alone,” the foundation’s Executive Director, Sibongile Simelane-Quntana<\/strong>, told The Citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pointed to the National Gambling Act of 2004<\/strong>, which allows for both voluntary and third-party self-exclusion from gambling activities. While these mechanisms offer a lifeline, Simelane-Quntana stressed that they are under-utilised and inconsistently applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the financial year 2023\/2024, the NRGP [National Responsible Gambling Program) received 2,662 referrals. Of these, 741 were for self-exclusion. We treated 560 individuals and issued 522 self-exclusion letters to provincial gambling boards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provincial self-exclusion challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But therein lies the crucial flaw: self-exclusion in one province doesn’t automatically carry over to players in other provinces, creating loopholes for problem gamblers to fall back into addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile the self-exclusion and third-party exclusion mechanisms are valuable tools, we must address the gaps in our legislation to ensure that no one falls through the cracks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SARGF said it was also concerned about the lack of urgency around online gambling regulation, which is currently still in draft stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed legislation aims to protect minors and vulnerable people, ensure compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), and establish a framework for the online gambling industry<\/strong> in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundation is urging all stakeholders from government to gambling operators to act before the country faces a gambling-related mental health crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> South African citizens petition for stricter gambling advertising hours to curb addiction<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SARGF says legislative loopholes may threaten vulnerable groups of people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2396,"featured_media":1282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The South African Responsible Gambling Foundation (SARGF) has issued an urgent plea for a unified, multi-departmental policy to address problem gambling, now recognized as a mental health disorder. The foundation highlights critical legislative gaps, particularly the provincial limitations of self-exclusion mechanisms and the delayed regulation of online gambling, which pose significant risks to vulnerable individuals. SARGF urges immediate action from government and operators to prevent a broader gambling-related mental health crisis.","focusai_entities":"South African Responsible Gambling Foundation, SARGF, Sibongile Simelane-Quntana, The Citizen, National Gambling Act of 2004, National Responsible Gambling Program, NRGP, Financial Intelligence Centre Act, FICA","focusai_location":"South Africa","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Unified Self-Exclusion Impact","query":"What specific legislative amendments are required to implement a national, unified self-exclusion database in South Africa, and what is the projected timeline for such reforms?"},{"label":"Online Regulation Timeline","query":"What are the primary impediments delaying the finalization and implementation of South Africa's online gambling legislation, and what is the revised projected timeline for its enactment?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60025,60020,60011],"tags":[1593],"class_list":["post-2132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-article","category-legislation-news","category-south-africa","tag-responsible-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2132"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2164,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132\/revisions\/2164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}