NATIONAL GAMBLING AMENDMENT BILL UPDATE: REVISED VERSION READY TO LEAVE PARLIAMENT

NATIONAL GAMBLING AMENDMENT BILL UPDATE: REVISED VERSION READY TO LEAVE PARLIAMENT

• 21 July 2025
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

During its 22 July 2025 sitting, the National Assembly is scheduled to consider a revised version of a 2018 National Gambling Amendment Bill – which has been in limbo since December 2021, when it was referred to a then non-existent mediation committee. This long-awaited development was announced in a parliamentary media statement issued on 21 July 2025. At the time of writing, the order paper for the session concerned had yet to be published.

According to a memorandum on the objects of the Bill as tabled in August 2018, once enacted and operationalised the proposed new piece of legislation was expected to:

• ‘address various challenges … identified as hampering the effectiveness of the 2004 National Gambling Act’, and
• ‘protect society from (the) over-stimulation of latent gambling’ by imposing certain limitations, informed by recommendations in the September 2010 Gambling Review Commission report.

This notwithstanding, what may have been overlooked during the ensuing seven years is that the Bill was redrafted by the National Assembly’s then Trade & Industry Committee to focus on ‘three technical issues’ and thus ‘to address existing governance challenges speedily’. This was confirmed in a committee media statement issued when the Bill’s ‘B’ version was adopted in November 2018. According to the statement, ‘other more substantive issues, such as horse racing, dog racing, electronic bingo terminals, betting on lottery results and online gaming’ were ‘referred for consideration in the sixth Parliament’.

At the time, then committee chair Joan Fubbs was quoted as having said, ‘Even though the committee considers these matters to be serious, the time available would not have allowed for ... (their) effective interrogation’.

When changes proposed by the NCOP were rejected by the National Assembly committee concerned in December 2021, the Bill’s ‘B’ version was earmarked for mediation – in keeping with the requirements of Parliament’s Joint Rule 138.

The necessary mediation committee was eventually established in May 2025 and has since held six closed meetings on the Bill, a ‘D’ version of which has been before the House since June. Reflecting the outcome of mediation committee deliberations, in the circumstances it seems more than likely to be passed by the House and sent to the President for signature. 

• Bill’s ‘D’ version
• parliamentary media statement
• Mediation Committee report on the Bill
• Joint Rules of Parliament
• Bill’s ‘B’ version (earmarked for mediation in December 2021)
• Gambling Review Commission report (2010)
• November 2018 committee media statement 

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

Follow us on X @SALegalAcademy (you can also join us on LinkedIn and Facebook)

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT