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Well it looks like South Africa has beaten the ultra conservative United States to the punch. Even after recent years of Apartheid and other “backward” legislation, South Africa has still managed to surpass the States as far as modern and forward thinking goes. With President Thabo Mbeki’s approval, the country has officially legalized online gambling and poker!

In a move that should set a good example for the US, South Africa made good use of their time by deciding that, while they had outlawed online gaming, they actually had a purpose for doing so, as they used that time to actually draft a gameplan for the legalization and regulation of the industry.

Recognizing that outlawing it completely, forcing their citizens to seek offshore poker sites would leave them vulnerable to dangerous situations, they decided to quickly and efficiently pull their resources and get their act together. Not only did they make gamblers happy by legalizing the games, but they also appeased the concerns of citizens who worried that it might pose a threat to children, problem gamers, and all players in general.

South Africa has planned to implement a strategy that involves counseling, alerts for going over the limit of monies lost, and alerts for exceeding a dangerous amount of playing time. Limits like these must be in place in order to be able to track and limit negative trends, and to be able to track other illicit behavior such as money laundering or cheating.

Without this system in place, all of the negative effects of gambling and poker can go on unchecked, with is essentially what is currently going on in the United states, since the 2006 implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which has sought to eradicate online gambling in the country. The US will have to join the 21^st century sooner or later, and learn from South Africa how to live with an activity that is here to stay.

Back to August 2008 Archive.

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