Software vendors who build interactive gambling platforms will have to be licensed in terms of the new amendments being proposed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to the National Gambling Act.
Brian Muthwa, director of legal affairs at the DTI, told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on trade and industry on Wednesday that such licences will be issued as national licences. They include operator licences, employee licences for key staff and licensing/testing and certification of interactive gambling (IG) software, IG equipment, and the manufacturers, suppliers and maintenance providers of IG equipment.
"We have to ensure all those who are involved in the production and distribution of IG software and equipment are properly licensed," he said.
According to the proposed amendments to the NGA, its objectives are the protection of players, to ensure revenue reaches the fiscus, and to retain the IG spend by players within the country.
Muthwa says those software vendors who develop programs for IG companies located outside SA would also have to be licensed.
"This is because those games would be accessible to South African players from anywhere in the world," he said.
Conditions for awarding such licences would include a commitment to socio-economic upliftment and to comply with broad-based black economic empowerment requirements, he says.
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