Online Gambling and Casinos in South Africa
Play at any major international online casino, and you will notice that many accept players from South Africa, and utilise the South African Rand (ZAR) as a currency option. This may make you believe that online gambling (particularly casino gambling) is legal in South Africa. In actuality, nothing could be farther from the truth. Gambling online in South Africa is quite illegal.
Gambling laws in South Africa
Ever since 1965, gambling in South Africa had been deemed illegal, except for horse racing and national lotteries. The Gambling Act saw to that. However, that long-standing law didn’t stop South Africans desire to gamble – far from it. Illegal casinos sprung up all over the country, and by the 1970s this had become quite a problem for the African country. In 1994, the government decided to do something about it.
The current gambling laws stem back to 1996, when the National Gambling Act overruled the previous Gambling Act and permitted players to wager at South African licensed casinos. This always worked wonders for other forms of betting, although it did not initially extend to the online gambling world.
In 2004, a brand new National Gambling Act was brought in, and this piece of legislation permitted gambling online, although only under certain conditions. Sportsbooks were tolerated, but not online casinos. An amendment was tabled in 2008 to try and get online casinos on the bill, but this was never brought to fruition, meaning that in theory, South Africans are still prohibited from playing at online casinos, and operators are prohibited from offering their services to casino players in South Africa.
Whilst new gambling bills are discussed rather frequently in South Africa, and the general debate about online gambling (particularly at casinos) is always hot and current, it is doubtful that any new legislation will be passed in the immediate future to change the situation there. So, if you still want to play at an online casino and you reside in South African, what can you do? Well, there are always offshore casinos and Bitcoin casinos.
Offshore casinos
So, there is no such thing as a South African online casino. Where do all these countless South Africans play then? Offshore casinos, as we’ve mentioned are outside of the law. By basing themselves in Curacao, or other far-flung parts of the globe, they offer their services to players in South Africa with blatant disregard to the wishes of the South African government and their laws. The South African online casino players lap them up.
These offshore casinos try to make themselves as appealing as possible for players in South Africa. This means offering the ZAR as a currency option, and some even go as far as offering Afrikaans as a language, and even theming their domains on various aspects of South African culture.
Most online casinos which offer their services to players in South Africa are offshore casinos, and South African players run the risk of ending up a dodgy casino just as much as they might end up at a favourable one with carefully checking the background on those casinos.
About gambling in South Africa
The punishment for any bank or operator caught involved in illegal online casino gambling is thought to be around 10,000,000 ZAR, 10 years in prison, or a combination of the two. There doesn’t appear to be punishments for players breaking the law, although some sources cite the same penalties for players. This has not been confirmed, though. However, almost no cases have successfully been prosecuted, since most of the casinos which South African players tend to play at, operate outside of the country’s jurisdiction, at those aforementioned offshore casinos.
Players may wonder how they can go about banking at a casino which accepts South African players, particularly if South African banks won’t dare touch money related to online casino gambling. Well, the answer is rather simple. The offshore casinos offer a variety of non-South African banking options, and there is no law in South African concerning transferring money to an e-wallet or using your cash to buy a prepaid card, such as Paysafecard. In this manner, players can rather easily circumvent the tough laws on banking for casino gaming.
Our advice to players in South Africa would be to be careful, though. As of right now, no player has ever been prosecuted, but you wouldn’t want to be the first. Use a VPN to mask your location, and only play at trustworthy casinos which check out. Moreover, plenty of other forms of online gambling are legal in South Africa, such as sportsbooks. These may be an avenue you may wish to check out if you’ve been bitten by the gambling bug.
Aanlyn casino Suid-Afrika
Speel by enige groot internasionale aanlyn-casino, en jy sal sien dat baie spelers van Suid-Afrika aanvaar en die Suid-Afrikaanse Rand (ZAR) as ‘n geldeenheid opsie gebruik. Dit kan jou laat glo dat aanlyn dobbelary (veral casino dobbel) wettig in Suid-Afrika is. In werklikheid kan niks verder van die waarheid af kom nie. Dobbel aanlyn in Suid-Afrika is baie onwettig.
Dobbelwette in Suid-Afrika
Sedert 1965 is dobbelary in Suid-Afrika as onwettig beskou, behalwe perdewedrenne en nasionale loterye. Die Dobbelwet het dit tot gevolg gehad. Die langstaande wet het egter nie verhoed dat Suid-Afrikaners graag wou verjaag nie. Onwettige casino’s het regoor die land opgekom, en teen die 1970’s het dit ‘n probleem vir die Afrika-land geword. In 1994 het die regering besluit om iets daaraan te doen.
Die huidige dobbelwette val terug tot 1996, toe die Nasionale Dobbelwet die vorige dobbelwetswet oortree het en toegelate spelers in Suid-Afrikaanse gelisensieerde casino’s kon weddenskappe. Dit het altyd wonders gedoen vir ander vorme van weddenskappe, alhoewel dit nie aanvanklik tot die aanlyn dobbelwêreld uitgebrei het nie.
In 2004 is ‘n splinternuwe Nasionale Dobbelwet ingebring, en hierdie wetgewing het dobbelary aanlyn toegelaat, maar slegs onder sekere omstandighede. Sportboeke is geduld, maar nie aanlyn-casino’s nie. ‘N Amendement is in 2008 ingedien om aanlyn-casino’s op die rekening te kry, maar dit is nooit tot stand gebring nie, wat beteken dat Suid-Afrikaners in teorie steeds verbied word om by aanlyn-casino’s te speel en dat operateurs verbied word om hul dienste aan casino te bied. spelers in Suid-Afrika.
Terwyl nuwe dobbelwetsontwerpe eerder in Suid-Afrika bespreek word, en die algemene debat oor aanlyn-dobbelary (veral by casino’s) altyd warm en aktief is, is dit onduidelik dat enige nuwe wetgewing in die nabye toekoms aangeneem sal word om die situasie daar te verander. So, as jy nog wil speel by ‘n aanlyn casino en jy woon in Suid-Afrika, wat kan jy doen? Wel, daar is altyd buitelandse casino’s.
Buitelandse casino’s
So, daar is nie so iets soos ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse aanlyn-casino nie. Waar speel al hierdie talle Suid-Afrikaners dan? Buitelandse casino’s, soos ons genoem het, is buite die wet. Deur hulself op Curacao of ander versteekte dele van die wêreld te baseer, bied hulle hul dienste aan spelers in Suid-Afrika aan, met blatante inagneming van die wense van die Suid-Afrikaanse regering en hul wette. Die Suid-Afrikaanse aanlyn-casino spelers skop hulle op.
Hierdie buitelandse casino’s probeer hulself so aantreklik maak vir spelers in Suid-Afrika. Dit beteken dat die ZAR as ‘n geldeenheid opsie aangebied word, en sommige gaan selfs sover as wat Afrikaans as ‘n taal aangebied word, en selfs hul domains oor verskeie aspekte van die Suid-Afrikaanse kultuur tema.
Die meeste aanlyn-casino’s wat hul dienste aan spelers in Suid-Afrika bied, is buitelandse casino’s en die Suid-Afrikaanse spelers loop die risiko om ‘n dodgy casino te beëindig, net soveel as wat hulle dalk op ‘n gunstige manier kan eindig met die agtergrond van die casino’s.
Oor dobbelary in Suid-Afrika
Die straf vir enige bank of operateur wat betrokke geraak het by onwettige aanlyn casino dobbel, word vermoedelik ongeveer 10,000,000 ZAR, 10 jaar in die tronk of ‘n kombinasie van die twee. Daar lyk nie straf vir spelers wat die wet oortree nie, hoewel sommige bronne dieselfde strawwe vir spelers noem. Dit is egter nie bevestig nie. Egter amper geen gevalle is suksesvol vervolg nie, aangesien die meeste casino’s waaraan Suid-Afrikaanse spelers geneig is om te speel, buite die land se jurisdiksie by die genoemde buitelandse casino’s bedryf word.
Spelers kan dalk wonder hoe hulle kan bankwese by ‘n casino wat Suid-Afrikaanse spelers aanvaar, veral as Suid-Afrikaanse banke nie die geld sal waak wat verband hou met aanlyn casino dobbel nie. Wel, die antwoord is redelik eenvoudig. Die buitelandse casino’s bied ‘n verskeidenheid nie-Suid-Afrikaanse bankopsies, en daar is geen wet in Suid-Afrika oor die oordrag van geld na ‘n e-beursie of die gebruik van u kontant om ‘n vooruitbetaalde kaart, soos Paysafecard, te koop nie. Op hierdie manier kan spelers die moeilike wette op bankwese vir casino-speletjies eerder omseil.
Ons raad aan spelers in Suid-Afrika sal egter wees om versigtig te wees. Van nou af is geen speler ooit vervolg nie, maar jy wil nie die eerste wees nie. Gebruik ‘n Skynprivaatnetwerk om jou ligging te masker, en speel slegs op betroubare casino’s wat uitkyk. Daarbenewens is baie ander vorme van aanlyn-dobbel reg in Suid-Afrika, soos sportboeke. Dit kan ‘n laan wees wat u dalk wil kyk of u deur die dobbelbuis gebyt is.