| February 19 - There is controversy surrounding the legality of the South African online gambling scene. Permission has been granted for a key civil case to be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein. Thursday 8th February saw Honourable Judge Hartzenberg grant Piggs Peak online casino leave to appeal a previous ruling.
Piggs Peak Online Casino initiated a court action, on the foundation that South African gambling on its web sites is legal due to the fact that its servers are based in, licensed and regulated in Swaziland.
In November 2006 the application ran into problems when Judge Hartzenberg stated that according to him, Casino Enterprises, which runs various online casinos, had not disclosed a reason for approaching him for the order.
Casino Enterprises served application to appeal Judge Hartzenberg's ruling on December 7, 2006. Hartzenberg granted the company until 15th December for the redraft of its application.
In November, Hartzenberg stated that, according to him, Casino Enterprises had not motivated a reason for the order. This resulted in allowing Casino Enterprises an extension to submit an amended declaration.
This resulted in refocused attention on the ambiguities which surround South African online gambling legalities.
A further dispute developed with the Gauteng provincial gambling board cautioning that it had given its attorney instructions to contest Casino Enterprises application for leave to appeal.
According to a Gauteng official, legal uncertainty regarding online gambling will continue and online gamblers and advertisers are further reprieved from prosecution.
The National and the Gauteng Gambling Boards are viewing Judge Hartzenberg's judgment as a success and have use threats that they will prosecution online casinos, gamblers and advertisers. Casino Enterprises however believes its actions remain entirely legal.
The case is of considerable international interest following the latest ruling by an Israeli judge that in his opinion online gambling takes place at the gambler's computer, not at the online casino's servers.
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