The high court of appeal in South Africa has upheld the ruling that online gaming is illegal in South Africa
The ruling has come down from the South African court of appeal that Casino Enterprises has lost its effort to legally provide gambling services online to citizens of South Africa. The ruling lays to rest the dispute as to whether the law in South Africa is applicable online with regards to online gambling and probably has implications for other online services. The irony of this ruling is that even as it is handed down by the appeal court a government committee is about to decide whether the ban online gambling in South Africa should be repealed.
The Gambling Review Commission has, in fact recommended that online wagering be brought into law in South Africa and have gone a step further by making the recommendation that 10 licenses be issued. With the current state of South African bureaucracy it is estimated by experts that should this in fact happen it won’t happen for at least another two years. As of now according to the law in South Africa, the gambling takes place according to where the player is located rather than where the servers are located. It was judge Jonathan Heher who handed down the ruling.
The losers in this situation, Casino Enterprises, own the most successful online gambling brands in South Africa Piggs Peak. They run a number of gambling enterprises under the brand name including a casino, poker room, bingo as well as the Volcanic Gold Casino. The court of appeal have upheld the original ruling against the firm that was made in August 2011. The ruling does not affect live casino gaming which has been legal in South Africa since 1996.
