Conference proceedings, Zurich 2023

it’s spelled out in Section 16, of the National Gambling Act, that if you gamble illegally in the country, the various categories, it could be under age, it could be an excluded person, or it’s not in terms of the law we have the power to seize any winnings. We have arrangements with the banks so the moment the money hits your bank account, the bank surrenders the money to us, and then it gets forfeited to the state. So that’s the first approach. We may not get you doing wrong, but the moment it hits your bank account, the money’s ours. We do have to apply to court for that money to be forfeited, then an individual has to come forward to oppose the application, but often they don’t, because they know they’ve committed an illegal act. The bank does it in terms of their legislation, they do make inquiries where that source of money emanates from, and if there’s a declaration it’s from gambling out of the jurisdiction, then it gets seized, and then we have to do the investigation. When we’re satisfied its proceeds of illegal gambling, then it gets forfeited. So that’s the one mechanism we have in place. We also work continuously with law enforcement. we have established working groups and committees with the National Commissioner’s Office. There’s the police and even at a provincial level, we work with them. I think the challenge has always been basically from a technological perspective, how to get it right in terms of combating online gambling, because unfortunately, that’s the position in South Africa. Often, we have a situation where, you know an establishment can be set up, it’s not licensed. It’s disguised as an internet cafe people are playing but the moment law enforcement moves in the screens go off. We try and take those matters to court for prosecution. But often it fails on technicalities because we can’t prove that actual illegal gambling activity took place. Because all we saw was a screen. And there’s no other information in South Africa or readily available, technically, that we can prove to a court that an illegal gambling activity took place. So that’s often the challenge. But we also work with customs, illegal gambling machines actually make their way into South Africa. So often, they’re confiscated, and even at provincial level, they’re even put up for destruction. So there are measures in place and hopefully, we’ll get to the point where we succeed with some of the challenges where we are stuck. MD: For each of your agencies, do you have dedicated law enforcement that is assigned to your agency? Or do you have to rely on other agencies law enforcement to enforce your laws from a criminality standpoint? CC: In South Africa, we have inspectors, even in the legislature the National Inspectorate is recognized. And that’s also the same at provincial level. However, for the power to arrest and prosecute, we rely on Department of Justice and the police to do this, but we have the authority at least to move in and inspect as long as we are accompanied by law enforcement. JR-E It’s the same in Puerto Rico. We don’t have any law enforcement agents within the commission. But we are working on making partnerships with law enforcement agencies within the government of Puerto Rico and also within the federal government because Puerto Rico is a US territory. So we have presence of the federal government. And there are certain laws that apply to gaming and also copyrights. We are making the approach to federal agencies and we have recently signed an MOU with the Treasury Department because they have agents with law enforcement capability. Their routine is to go throughout all the commercial establishments in Puerto Rico. So we are making that partnership so that we can take advantage of that tool that the Treasury Department has in Puerto Rico. RJ: We have our own enforcement powers, within the restrictions of administrative law. When it comes to criminal law, for example. people get sent to prison, then we cooperate with police forces and the public prosecutor. And that is mainly the case in land based illegal offering like illegal poker tournaments, or illegal betting terminals. When it comes to, let’s say, 80%, of what we do, as an enforcement activity is within our own powers. MD: Shifting from the illegal markets, there’s been lots of discussion in the last couple days about advertising restrictions and the role that it plays in the regulated market, but also in the role that it plays in some ways of actually encouraging the development of the illegal markets. So talk a little bit about what your jurisdiction is doing as it relates to advertising restrictions and how as you look to the future, you sort of balance that tension of making sure that the public knows what is legal and what is illegal and the operators to be able to say it loud, say it proud that if you’re

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