The beauty of online gambling is that it falls into a pleasantly grey area of the law that only really slows down the level of online gambling activity. Countries like America are very clear on the fact that all online gambling activity is illegal and this extends to American nationals gambling on foreign sites. They have made it illegal to receive monies from online gambling companies, so pay-outs are a bit iffy. In South Africa similar laws are in place but in true African fashion punters are not too concerned. The puzzling thing is that, if you look at the countries where it is legal, they are not all banana republics or even close. Some of the countries where online gambling is legal are: New Zealand, Finland, South Korea and Denmark. What a random group of countries.

South Africa’s legal position is truly in a grey area. To put it in a nutshell, it is not illegal for a South African to engage in online gambling it is just illegal for anyone to obtain a license to operate an online casino. The legalese of this is quite baffling. Online casinos have definitely been a hit in South Africa and elsewhere in the world one has to wonder what all the fuss is about. As usual in situations such as these it probably has more to do with economic politics than any kind moral issue. Governments do not really care if people are spending all day and night in front of their computers enjoying a bit of online gambling, what is a real concern for governments around the world is : are they getting a sufficiently large slice of the pie?
Online gambling poses very little risk to society, it definitely is not more harmful than casino gambling, and since casinos are now everywhere, you have to wonder if the real issue is a legal one. You need a credit card to open an account with an online casino and since you need to be 18 to get an credit card (generally speaking), the legal age issue is pretty much void. No casino asks you to fill in a form regarding your gambling history, so the risk of online gambling abuse is the same as for a regular casino.