South Africa’s Parliament adopts gambling bill

The Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee has adopted the National Gambling Bill this week.

South Africa.- South Africa’s Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry adopted on Wednesday a redrafted version of the National Gambling Amendment Bill. The country had been waiting for the bill to get passed for a while.

Committee Chairperson Joanmariae Fubbs explained that even though the Department of Trade and industry had introduced a comprehensive Bill, the committee had resolved to deal with three technical issues only to address existing governance challenges speedily.

The issues were the reconfiguration of the National Gambling Board to the National Gambling Regulator, addressing governance challenges relating to the National Gambling Policy Council and broadening the National Central Electronic Monitoring System, explained the government through a statement.

Fubbs said that there are other issues such as horse racing, electronic bingo terminals and online gaming that have been noted and referred for consideration in the Sixth Parliament. ”Even though the committee considers these matters to be serious, the time available would not have allowed for an effective interrogation of these matters. Therefore, the committee is of the view that these amendments, adopted today, will pave the way for more comprehensive and holistic amendments to the gambling regulatory framework,” said Ms Fubbs.