Finance MEC Louisa Mabe has promised to help combat illegal gambling in the province.
The Finance MEC Louisa Mabe has promised to support the North West Gambling Board’s attempt to prevent illegal gambling in the area. Mabe’s comments came at a scrap yard in Klerksdorp as she participated in the destruction of over 1,000 illegal gambling machines that had been confiscated.
The machines were taken away from locations in Klerksdorp, Orkney, Rustenburg and Brits. Mabe said that there is “no way” that she will allow illegal gambling to continue to thrive in her province. She went onto say that she is “fully behind the destruction of illegal gambling machines and activities that have been eating into the revenue collection of the province.” Mabe pointed out that illegal gambling operators do not pay levies and taxes which have a considerable impact on the “equitable share of the province”.
Mabe went as far as to call upon the board to institute criminal charges against illegal operators.
There has been an increase in gambling revenues across South Africa however; the North West has declined by 0.4% in other words R16.2 million. This is most likely due to the increase in illegal gambling sites.
According to the chief executive of the North West Gambling Board, Furtune Sekgaphane, gambling is a powerful economic driver as it creates jobs, investment opportunities and attracts tourists. However, he said that illegal gambling is highly immoral and everyone needed to work hard to eradicate it.
Sekgaphane said that the North West Gambling Board has signed a memorandum of understanding with the police’s organised crime unit and that the board is planning on joining forces with other law enforcement agencies to bring down the illegal gambling industry. He closed by saying that the organisers of illegal gambling do not “own up to the socio-economic problems which are associated with gambling like problem gambling to which they contribute significantly.”
