The Piggs Peak appeal is dismissed

The decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa to dismiss the appeal by the Casino Enterprises (Pty) Ltd, Swaziland, trading as Piggs Peak is an affirmation of the country’s stringent laws on regulating gambling and ensuring that South Africans are protected from the vagrancies of illegal gambling activities offered to them.

The activities of Piggs Peak to offer South Africans access to online gambling in flagrant disregard of the laws of the country could be construed as a transgression of South Africa’s gambling legislative prescripts.

The fifteen years of regulating this industry has come with maturity and experience, and gambling regulators continue to work cooperatively with law enforcement agencies to curtail illegal online operators licensed offshore from trading and continuously breaking South Africa’s laws.

This outcome will strengthen the arm of the law as well as those of gambling regulators who are mandated by government to protect members of the public from exposure to illegal gambling activities which proliferate the market. Enforcement of national laws faces many challenges and there is a need for enhanced administrative cooperation between competent national authorities to curb this ill.

In view of the self-evident cross border impact of online/interactive gambling in both its legal and unauthorised dimensions, as well as its nexus with legislative prescripts, there is a concerted need for gambling regulators and authorities to deal with the effects of, and the possible public policy on the growth of online gambling with a view of facilitating best practices and specific actions required.

We are resolute that all illegal gambling activities that take away opportunities for the country to generate revenue and subject punters to the risks of gambling without security will be shut down, and all persons and entities found to be offering the South Africa public such unlawful activities will be blacklisted and denied opportunities to operate lawfully in the country.

Every country has its regulated processes and South Africa is no exception. We should be allowed to stay the course. Conversely, we are aware of the growing internet penetration as well as the increasing access to social media as indicated in the 2010 All Media Product Survey. This also indicates that access to insecure online gambling sites is inevitable.

Through deliberate cooperation with the Banking Association, merchant dealers and the South African Reserve Bank, all those found to engage in or offer such illegal activities shall be prosecuted accordingly and shall forfeit any unlawful winnings received on such sites.

Any person found guilty under the Act in this respect may be sentenced to a prison term of 10 years or a fine not exceeding R10 million or both. The recent findings of the National Gambling Board (NGB) from an independently commissioned research on the evolution of the gambling industry will surely shape the path for the review of the gambling legislation based on the need to protect the public; create a legal framework that ensures fairness; arrest illegal activities and allow for the growth of this industry from which both the country and legitimate gambling businesses derive benefits.

In the meantime we all have to abide the decisions of the courts.

Enquiries:
Ms Baby Tyawa
Cell: 083 302 7657

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