Online casino to appeal South Africa ruling
Piggs Peak, the online casino at the centre of the recent North Guateng High Court ruling banning online gambling in South Africa, is to appeal the ruling.
Piggs Peak, the online casino at the centre of the recent North Guateng High Court ruling banning online gambling in South Africa, has been granted leave to appeal the ruling.
The court ruled on August 20 that although Piggs Peak’s servers were situated in Swaziland, it was still possible for Gauteng-based gamblers to connect with the online casino, and imposed a ban on operators, players and advertisers of online gambling in South Africa. Those prosecuted under the new law could face a fine of up to ZAR 10m (approx £880,000) and imprisonment of up 10 years.
While several South Africa-facing casinos have suspended offering games in the country until the legal process has run its course, others such as Kahnawake-licensed Silversands, which suspended games on 1 September following the initial ruling, have decided to resume operations until the appeal has been heard.
A statement on Silversands’ site said: “Please be advised that leave to appeal the decision by the High Court has been granted. This means that a decision regarding the legality of online gaming will be decided after the law has run its course. We can therefore resume our normal operations and continue offering online gaming services to the South African public.”
Lucky Lukhwareni, head of legal services at the Gauteng Gambling Board, however told Johannesburg-based newspaper The Mail & Guardian: “Even though the leave to appeal was granted by the court, the games haven’t been tested against South African standards and the games are not licensed by South African gaming regulators which put online gamblers at risk of being manipulated.”
A date has yet to be set for the appeal, to be heard in the Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein.
Operators granted licences by other South African provinces to offer online sports betting in the country are not believed to have been affected by the ban. Victor Chandler in April launched a South African-facing site, operated under a licence obtained from the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. Ladbrokes also submitted an application for an online sportsbook licence from the Western Cape, in partnership with African casino group KaiRo.