Recent Case: Illegal gambling

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Date: 11 September 2019
• Published date: 11 September 2019
• Author: Marita Carnelley
• Pages: 277-290
• Citation: (2019) 32 SACJ 277

Illegal Gambling

MARITA CARNELLEY

North-West University

1 Background

Illegal gambling as a topic has featured in t he SACJ recent cases updates:

2004 (1) 79-86; 2010 (3) 439-453 and 2013 (3) 429-446. T he rst part of

the present overview deals with judgments repor ted since 2014, and

in many respects these case s seem to be just another manifestation

of a larger Stalingrad delaying str ategy to use litigation and appeals

to allow unlicensed operators to continue generating resources unti l

the enforcers get their act together. The enforcement problems with

search warrants have resulted in so much fr ustration on the side of

licensed operators that they are tur ning to the courts themselves to

interdict illegal operators, to stop the un licensed operations that seem

to continue with impunity. This aspect is d iscussed in the second

section. The third sec tion places the litigation in a broader historical

context, and, lastly, an overview is given of new proposals to rectif y

the current unsatisfactor y situation.

The regulation of lawful ga mbling opportunities in Sout h Africa is

in theory based on a system of li mited legalisation and strict regulation

(Preamble of the National Gambling Act 7 of 200 4). Provision of, and

participating in, unl icensed gambling opportunities i n the country is

illegal and a crimi nal offence (s 7 of the National Gambling Act).

There are two main ki nds of illegal gambling. Firstly there is la nd-

based, casino-like gambl ing operated without the necessary licence, and

often called internet cafés or enter tainment lounges, but also included

are unlicensed slot machines, bet ting on lotteries, greyhound and bush

(dog) racing, fahfee ( fa) a nd dice (National Gambling Policy 2 016,

GG 39887, GN 389, 1 April 2016 at 4.5.1 and 4.5.4). The prevalence of

the various types of il legal gambling dif fers from province to province,

although the full extent thereof i s unclear (National Gambling Board

Socio-Economic Impact of Illegal and Online Gambling in South Africa

Report (hereina fter Online Gambling Report) (2016) Table 2-1). There is

legal uncertainty about the legal ity of traditional licensed games s uch

as bingo being moved to electronic platforms, but this complication

is not discussed here (see National Gambling Policy 4.3.1; S Louw

and V Bronstein ‘Bingosinos, concurrent competence and functiona l

federalism in South Af rica’ (2018) 135 SALJ 5 47-5 71).

Recent Cases 277

(2019) 32 SACJ 277

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