South Africa to confiscate illegal online gambling winnings

South Africa is proposing new methods to curb unauthorized online gambling, including the confiscation of any illicit online winnings.

Late last week, South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) published the new National Gambling Amendment Bill, which seeks to tighten the screws on the nation’s gambling industry. The DTI is seeking public comments on the bill until Nov. 15.

The proposed changes mirror those telegraphed earlier this year via the DTI’s National Gambling Policy 2016 policy paper, including repositioning the National Gambling Board as the National Gambling Regulator, allowing electronic forms of bingo (provided they don’t resemble slot machines) and requiring new monitoring of the socio-economic patterns of gambling activity.

The DTI wants to repeal the portion of the 2004 Gambling Act that required the government to apply to the High Court to confiscate illegal gambling winnings. The new proposal would see illegal gambling winnings automatically forfeited to the new National Gambling Regulator.