Govt seeks tighter gambling control

THE Ministry of Environment and Tourism is to table an amendment soon, aimed at tightening control over gambling and to improve the collection of revenue for the State.

At its meeting on August 24, Cabinet approved an amendment to the Casinos and Gambling Houses Act and lifted a moratorium on the granting of new gambling licences. Since the promulgation of the Casinos and Gambling Houses Act in 1994, 260 gambling house licences and three casinos licences were issued.In 1996, the Act was amended because it was felt that gambling licences were being issued too easily and could have a detrimental social impact on the community.A Commission of Enquiry was established by Cabinet to investigate the situation and make recommendations one of which was the ban on new licences from January 1 1997.No new applications for gambling house licences have been accepted since then.Cabinet noted that the demand for gambling houses had expanded and a fair amount of illegal gambling activities have sprung up all over Namibia.A contributing factor to the increase in illegal gambling was that only people who wanted to operate gambling houses needed a licence, while suppliers of gambling technology did not have to have a licence to buy or supply machines.This has meant that anyone could buy a gambling machine and supply it to a venue, whether the venue was licensed for gambling or not.Since the promulgation of the Casinos and Gambling Houses Act in 1994, 260 gambling house licences and three casinos licences were issued.In 1996, the Act was amended because it was felt that gambling licences were being issued too easily and could have a detrimental social impact on the community.A Commission of Enquiry was established by Cabinet to investigate the situation and make recommendations one of which was the ban on new licences from January 1 1997.No new applications for gambling house licences have been accepted since then.Cabinet noted that the demand for gambling houses had expanded and a fair amount of illegal gambling activities have sprung up all over Namibia.A contributing factor to the increase in illegal gambling was that only people who wanted to operate gambling houses needed a licence, while suppliers of gambling technology did not have to have a licence to buy or supply machines.This has meant that anyone could buy a gambling machine and supply it to a venue, whether the venue was licensed for gambling or not.