Bingo in the firing line
2012-05-06 22:59
Johannesburg - The extent of illegal gambling in South Africa should be assessed while an action plan on curbing it should be put into place, the department of trade and industry said on Sunday.
Minister Rob Davies said a clear national strategy is needed for combating and eradicating illegal gambling in an cohesive manner with law enforcement agencies, spokesperson Sidwell Medupe said in a statement.
The National Gambling Board was been mandated to prepare an action plan on curbing illegal gambling, the statement said.
Davies said the next level would be public consultations with the provinces driven by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The NCOP urged the public to participate in the public hearings to ensure that their views will be presented on matters pertaining to gambling in the country.
According to the statement, the regulation of bingo remained an element considered within the Gambling Review Commission report by Parliament.
Davies pronounced that the regulation of bingo will be subsumed in the broader review process, pending public consultations by the NCOP.
"This will inform [the department] on how the country would proceed with a national policy and regulatory framework for bingo as a whole, a moratorium on the issuance of all automated bingo due must be halted," he said.
Davies added that any issuance on the implementation of automated bingo without a national policy and regulatory framework that determines the number of licenses and play position will undermine the country's efforts to build a coherent and harmonised gambling regulatory regime's.
- SAPA
