Is it legal for South Africans to bet with an overseas based bookie?

Yesterday I wanted to place a bet on number 1 in race 1 at Fontwell, a horse called Heronry. To my disappointment my local bookie did not offer any fixed odds on this meeting, but they do offer a tote facility. So I placed a small bet on the tote for a win. Luckily for me, my selection won in style. The tote paid a measly R1.40 for the win, or put another way, a 40% profit for the win. I was a little disappointed with this pay out so I had a look what the overseas bookies paid for this win. According to Racing Post which is based in the UK I think, it paid evens, or in other words, I would have made a 100% profit on my selection. So just because I am a South African citizen I am forced to get less than half the payout the overseas based players got. So my question is, can I open an overseas based betting account, especially in one that offers services my South African ones do not? I am sure our bookies accept foreign players, so do overseas bookies accept South Africans? So are the likes of bet365.com legal for South African horse players?

National Gaming Board South Africa - FAQs
www.ngb.org.za/faqs.aspx

Copied and pasted...

5. Is online betting legal?
Yes. Online betting is legal with a licensed South African bookmaker.

6. Can South Africans gamble overseas?
South Africans cannot gamble with international companies from within the Republic.

@Lucky Dude:

Take them to the Equality Court! Heh! Heh!

How can you be prejudiced by being in SA? Bookies should be compelled to lay the same overseas odds;(not local tote odds when it suits them!

In the same breath, if TAB wants to commingle when it suits them, they should also be forced to commingle ALL THEIR POOLS so that there is uniformity and fairness to punters.

That is unconstitutional and discriminatory (besides being arbitrary).


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Englander Wrote:

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> National Gaming Board South Africa - FAQs
> www.ngb.org.za/faqs.aspx
>
> Copied and pasted...
>
> 5. Is online betting legal?
> Yes. Online betting is legal with a licensed South
> African bookmaker.
>
> 6. Can South Africans gamble overseas?
> South Africans cannot gamble with international
> companies from within the Republic.

Suggest if you wanted to bet on UK racemeetings,where no provision is made for in SA,suggest an arrangement might be made with Ladbrokes SA.

i have just recieved an email from ladbrokes stating they are closing down in south africa this month....

Ladbrokes closing down

Probably proves that most bookies in sa "make it" on credit bets. Where 500 pinters lose 20k a week settle R6-R10k and continue the followong week. Ladbrokes obviously tried cash and found that cash bets are the ckevers and hence paid out on them.

> 6. Can South Africans gamble overseas?
> South Africans cannot gamble with international
> companies from within the Republic.

Just another reason for some people to want to emigrate.

Lucky_Dude Wrote:

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> > 6. Can South Africans gamble overseas?
> > South Africans cannot gamble with international
> > companies from within the Republic.
>
> Just another reason for some people to want to
> emigrate.


dude

on a scale of 1-100 punting cannot feature on a families talks about imigration

pirates Wrote:

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> i have just recieved an email from ladbrokes
> stating they are closing down in south africa this
> month....


its a tough market out here..punters in south africa are spoilt...now before i get shot at from the team...let me explain why:

punters in sa demand stretches and off a 15/10 horse the minumum thats expected is 16/10 and add to that the old fashioned way off rounding off and taking 500/300 as opposed to 480/300(thats another 5%...and that was the norm...it was the norm because in the old days...bookies knew they were screwing us anyway so giving us this stretch and the rounding off...meant little to them because they were betting to a 150%+ anyway....but now its a lot different...much more competitive and margins are thin...but bookies are still in the old mindset of giving a 10% STRETCH...go on betfair and see how competitive prices are...off a 1.5/1...ppl are asking for 1.52/1...sometimes and many a time prices on interbet far exceed what i am getting on betfair.....i wouldn't wanna be a bookie in this day and age....take interbet for instance..and assume its one betting company....u can see all the prices traded and at what volumes they were traded at...i did an exercise a while ago..they showed a loss in nearly every race...even when a 12/1 won...when the top 3 in betting win...the are losers on any horse...in sa betting markets....in overseas betting markets ..ppl normally come for the odds on favourite..and they are generally a winner if the fav. gets beat...but otherwise its really tough..

easy, what if the person was a professional punter? They would make far more playing on betting exchanges like Betfair than SA's rip off Tote.

lucky

yes betfair embrace winners but note that betfai now have 2 parts. the exchange and the bookmaking arm.

racing guru is correct also about the stretch but i stillbelieve that credit betting is the main reson bookmakers in sa thrive.
most of them are "lekker" okes and dont even want to collect the full ammount due. what they want is


you to drip feed them 5-10 k a week and the other 50 clients the same irrespective of how much you owe or can afford to pay.

easy, I guess I just hate being discriminated against because of my nationality. So if I am a South African living abroad I could play on the overseas based sites?