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Kesitilwe highlights a recent study by Gaming Compliance International that estimated around 77% of Africa’s gambling market is offshore.
He believes the success of Africa Safer Gambling Week will largely be assessed on whether that channelisation improves by the next edition.
He warns governments and policymakers often misunderstand the primary causes of problem gambling, and therefore enforce measures that squeeze licensed operators and drive the illegal market.
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During a livestream on Sunday, he said he had met with “eight victims of online betting”. To reinforce his criticism of the sector and in an attempt to win over conservative voters, he pointed out that one gambler had made 1,400 instant fund transfers (Pix) to a betting site. Lula criticised the Central Bank for failing to detect such a high volume of transactions to a single company.
However, that responsibility does not lie with the Central Bank. It is the role of the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets to monitor and regulate the sector. Betting companies submit detailed daily reports on bettors’ financial transactions with the sites. A specific module within Brazil’s betting management system detects recurring transfers.
“Today I met a young man who made 1,400 Pix transfers in three months, and the Central Bank didn’t detect that this was an excessive number of transfers to the same company?” Lula said.
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Ahmed Badawi, who chairs the House communications committee, said in May that the government would amend the anti-cybercrime law to name online betting explicitly. Life imprisonment was discussed for the gravest offences. No bill number or text has been published.
A separate private member’s bill was tabled by MP Martha Mahrous in January 2025. It proposed prison terms of two to five years and multi-million-Egyptian-pound fines for promoters, agents and payment facilitators. It has also gone nowhere.
Parliament rose on 22 July having passed 162 laws, none concerning betting. Egyptian news outlet Al-Watan reported that electronic betting was still among the committee’s files awaiting discussion on 17 August, listed separately from the cybercrime amendments. The House reconvenes on 1 October.
