PROGRAMME 1: GAMING CONTROL AND COMPLIANCE DIVISION (GCCD)

Purpose of the programme

The Gaming Control and Compliance Division (GCCD) provides mandated operational core functions in terms of the National Gambling Act, 2004, (Act 7 of 2004). The GCCD provides technical analysis of the modes of gambling and system audits in line with statutory imperatives as provided for in gambling legislation. It provides reliable information through national centralised databases and contributes towards providing accessible, transparent and sufficient access for economic citizens to ensure the ease of doing business. The sub programmes of the GCCD are set out as follows:

Functional National Registers

The NGB is the custodian of national registers in terms of the NGA. The NGA requires that the NGB must establish and maintain, in the prescribed manner and form national registers to provide a national repository of gambling sector-specific information. The NGB is required to provide the information in its registry to PLAs in the prescribed manner and form to ensure information sharing and compliance as contemplated in the NGA.

National Central Electronic Monitoring System (NCEMS)

The NGB is obliged by section 27 of the NGA read with regulation 14 of the National Gambling Regulations to supply, install, commission, operate, manage and maintain a National Central Electronic Monitoring System (“NCEMS”) which is capable of detecting and monitoring significant events, associated with any LPM that is made available for play in the Republic and analysing and reporting data according to the requirements of sections 21 to 26 of the NGA. NCEMS is essentially a system to track each LPM operated by a Route Operator (RO) or Independent Site Operator (ISO) in terms of location and status; record and validate every transaction on the LPM in realtime, and periodically report collected data. The NCEMS enables the NGB to fulfil its oversight responsibility over the PLAs in terms of section 65 of the NGA, maintain the national register in terms of section 21 of the NGA, monitor and evaluate the PLAs compliance with the NGA and enables the NGB to assist the PLAs to detect and suppress unlawful gambling and unlicensed gambling activities.

Gaming Control

The NGB will monitor and analyse technological developments that affect gambling regulation and provide advice on the compliance of gambling machines and devices in terms of the NGA. The NGB will review and analyse the certification of gambling products, new gambling products, and the adoption of technology in the gambling industry in accordance with the technical standards (SANS1718) developed by the South African Bureau of Standards in accordance with the Standards Act.

Compliance

Provincial legislation supports the NGA in regulating the industry. It has however been noted that not all provincial pieces of legislation support the NGA as contradictions have been observed between provincial legislation and the NGA. Through S65, the NGB will provide an authoritative advice on policy, statutory matters and legislative reform in the Gambling Industry. GCCD therefore has an important role during the evaluation and monitoring of performance of PLAs to identify discrepancies, issue deficiency notices and where necessary, make recommendations to the National Gambling Policy Council (NGPC).

The PLAs have sole legislative mandate to issue national and provincial gambling licences. It is paramount that applicants of these licences are properly vetted to ensure that there is compliance with the law by ensuring the following:

• Legality, responsibility, fairness, transparency and honesty;
• Equity and elimination of unfair competition;
• Protection of communities, vulnerable persons, public interest;
• Consideration of public objections;
• B-BBEE compliance with respect to ownership and job creation, amongst others, which entails ensuring that historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI) are advanced and participate in the greater economic activities;
• Suitability of applicant and its employees;
• Suitability of licensed premises, location, proximity between other gambling establishments; and
• Measures are implemented to combat addictive and compulsive gambling.

Financial flows are created by various gambling related transactions that may involve the diversion of resources away from economically- and socially-productive uses and these diversions can have negative impacts on the gambling and financial sector and external stability of the industry and the state. AML/CFT controls, when effectively implemented, mitigate the adverse effects of criminal economic activity and promote integrity and stability in the industry. This will be accomplished by ensuring the compliance by PLAs with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act specifically with Sections 21B, 29, 36, 42,42A and 45.

The NGB will ensure compliance with section 33 of NGA which requires the NGB to evaluate the issuing of national licences by PLAs and the compliance monitoring of licensees by PLAs. The section further requires the NGB to conduct oversight evaluations of the performance of PLAs, in a manner stipulated in section 34 of the NGA so as to ensure that norms and standards are applied uniformly and consistently by all PLAs.