Africa Focus
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iGamingBusiness: What are your thoughts on the latest
National Gambling Amendment Bill tabled in July in South
Africa? Do you think it has potential to impact your existing
business, perhaps in terms of your lottery-based
offering of Betgames?
Tyrone Dobbin: Each business will have its own challenges
in adapting to some of the amendments. At this stage I think
the focus must be on us, as an industry and as associations,
representing stakeholders to stand shoulder to shoulder and
collectively address the fundamental and technical challenges
the amended policy proposes.
Anyone following the South African policy developments will
know that this amendment bill, as tabled recently, was actually
fi rst published as a draft back in September 2016. At that point,
interested industry stakeholders had the opportunity to comment
and engage with the Department of Trade and Industry on some
of the policy proposals. What we see now though is that although
there have been some revisions and adjustments, unfortunately
the signifi cantly consequential items that impact the majority of
licensed bookmakers all remain.
“The focus must be on us, as an industry ,
to stand shoulder to shoulder
and collectively address the challenges
the amended policy proposes”
Most dramatic is the proposal to transfer
the regulation of licences which
permit betting on any form of
lottery from the provincial
licensing authorities to the
National Lotteries Commission.
The additional proposal to
limit the number of licences
approved to do so is very
signifi cant and frightening for
bookmakers in South Africa,
especially those which have
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iGamingBusiness | Issue 112 | September/October 2018