The biggest event concerning South Africa’s land-based and online gambling industry is the Betting and iGaming Summit in Johannesburg. The first BIG Conference took place back in 2013, at the Indaba Hotel & Conference Centre, Fourways and was a huge success. The purpose of the first edition was to analyse the extremely dynamic gambling industry and find ways for the technological progress to increase revenue and limit costs.
Experts and market leaders sat together with key people in the gaming industry to thoroughly examine the impact of the changes in the iGaming technology and to try to predict the direction in which it will be heading for the next 5 years. Among attendees were some of the most important and influential people in the local and international gambling arena. The conference was regarded as a huge success for all parties that attended the two-event packed days organized by Eventus International Ltd., who would continue to plan the next two editions, as well.
The Second Edition of BIG Africa – Regulating the Remote Gambling Sector
While the 2013 edition laid a strong foundation for the expansion and regulation of the gambling sector in South Africa, last year’s BIG Summit was a key factor in further analysing both the local and the international gambling market. In the first day of the summit, MacDonald Netshitenzhe, the Chief Director of Policy and Legislation in South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry opened a panel discussion about the current state of iGaming and overall gambling in South Africa and approached the matter of regulatory issues. A key presentation of the 2014 Betting and iGaming Africa Summit was delivered by Yahaya Malkori from Law Allianz and it suggested entering the Nigeria gaming market. An even bigger success than the previous year’s edition, the 2014 BIG conference approached key regulatory issues and provided participants with useful tools and important network opportunities.
What Does This Year’s Summit Hold for South Africa?
Another successful edition of the BIG Africa Summit is well on the way, with expectations as high as the previous years. A now must-attend event, the South Africa’s official iGaming summit will approach key issues in the country’s online gambling regulation, which is currently nebulous and intricate.
As many of you probably know, South Africa’s National Gambling Act of 2008 only allows online gambling with operators that have been cleared and licensed by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI). So far, no online casino, bingo, poker or any other kind of online operators own licences(unlike the online casinos in the uk) and thus the only interactive gambling that takes place over the Internet is on few sports betting sites. As a result of the current state of the gambling laws in South Africa, land-based casino owners have launched a legal claim to challenge the gambling Act, but the outcome is yet to be known.
DTI Chief Director of Policy and Legislation, MacDonald Netshitenzhe believes gambling to be immoral and fears that issuing further iGaming licenses would lead to negative social consequences. However, as is the case with many unregulated market, online gambling continues to thrive, only in an illegal matter. It is has been estimated that if this sector was to be licensed and regulated, it would bring an annual income of R110 million in tax revenue.
This year’s BIG Summit and Exposition, which will take place Monday 26th to Wednesday 28th October at the Emperors Palace, in Johannesburg, South Africa is expected to be another informative and networking event. The new dynamic format of the event promises a full schedule of debates, talks, panels discussions and meetings.
The first day will start-off with the regulatory address by MacDonald Netshitenzhe – Insights on a future gambling framework in South Africa, which is expected to shed some light on South Africa’s future expansion in the field and will be followed by addresses from a number of key-people in the gambling industry.