Casino Enterprises, the company that runs Piggs Peak online casino, among other gambling sites, has until 15 December to redraft an application for a court order that could declare its Internet gambling operations in SA legal.
In his 27 November judgment, Pretoria High Court judge Willie Hartzenberg said that, in his view, Casino Enterprises did not disclose a reason for approaching him for the order. "In the result I shall set aside the declaration and allow the plaintiff time to file an amended declaration," Hartzenberg said in the judgment, of which ITWeb has a copy.
Despite Hartzenberg effectively setting aside the case, the parties involved have drawn diametrically opposite conclusions from the case. The National and Gauteng Gambling Boards view Hartzenberg's judgment as a victory and are threatening to prosecute online casinos, gamblers and advertisers alike, while Casino Enterprises believes its activities remain perfectly legal.
National Gambling Board CEO Thibedi Majake says the case, in which his board was the second respondent, has national application.
"The judge has spoken and, until the appeal has been lodged, I'm governed by the judgement. Any person in violation of the judgement will face the due process of law," he says.
Majake adds that the authorities will start to clamp down on illegal Internet gambling after next Friday, provided Casino Enterprises did not file new papers.
Common monetary area
Lawyers for Casino Enterprises say they are amending their summons to make a case for a declaratory order. In the meantime, the company insists it is perfectly legal to gamble on its sites.
In a letter to registered Piggs Peak punters, the company said: "Casino Enterprises initiated this court action in 2003 on the basis that we believe that playing on the Internet with Casino Enterprises is legal as our servers are in Swaziland, part of the common monetary area, and licensed and regulated by the Swaziland Gambling Board.
"This legal process is ongoing and we have been given, by the judge of the High Court, a period of time to submit amended documentation to support our case. We understand that the current press coverage may be troubling to you... We assure you that we have at no time intended, or ever intend, to take part in, or promote any form of illegal activity, and should this situation change, we will notify you immediately."
Competition warning
Meanwhile, the National Lotteries Board (NLB) is warning mobile marketers who run competitions by SMS that they may be flirting with prosecution if they charge more than the cost of the message as an entrance fee.
NLB spokesman Sershan Naidoo says his authority views as a lottery any competition in which entrants finance the purchase of the prize. Such competitions are illegal in order to protect the national lottery. But, says Naidoo, some marketers are ignoring the law.
An example cited in a recent newspaper report is a competition advertised in a Sunday paper that requires participants pay R20 to enter a competition to win cosmetic makeover surgery to the value of R80 000. The report notes that typically R1.50 is the maximum one would pay for a standard SMS.
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