South Africa could be a step closer to joining the ranks of governments licensing Internet gaming. Last weekend, the National Gambling Board held a conference for the entire gambling industry, including Net betting proponents, and the outlook for Internet gambling is favorable.
Africa News Online reports that the South African government is expected to legalize Net betting this summer, but John Lee, vice president of business development for Sun International, is a little more cautious. Lee suggests that legislation is likely to pass by the end of this year, or mid-2001. At any rate, many conference attendees reportedly saw Internet gambling as a winning proposition, likely to increase the overall gambling "pie," according to Africa News Online.
Sun's managing director Peter Bacon, in a speech at the conference, urged the government to adopt legalized Internet gaming. Bacon referenced a Merrill Lynch survey that suggests online gaming, valued at $3 billion annually, is growing rapidly--up to 60 percent a year. (Bacon was out of the country during the conference, so operations director Stuart Shaw read his remarks.)
While Global Resorts Executive Director Monde Tabata was also urging the government to adopt gaming legislation, Gillian Saunders of consulting group Grant Thornton Kessel Feinstein inserted a new twist on the subject. Saunders reported that local Internet gamblers would account for only two percent of the traditional gambling market.
"In the future, as technology develops, every home may be able to gamble via the TV, and the picture could be different," Sauders said.
In the meantime, a number of companies are reportedly poised for business in South Africa when Internet gambling becomes legal, including Orbtech, Global Payment Technologies, and National Sporting Index.