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South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) Party is reviving its draft bill to regulate online gambling and has invited comments on its proposal.

Interested stakeholders and institutions are invited to submit opinions to the Speaker of the National Assembly up until December 8, according to an in the Government Gazette dated November 8.

The contents of the Remote Gambling Bill 2024 are the same as the previous version proposed by the DA and are available upon request, the party said.

Toby Chance, a member of parliament and the DA national spokesperson on trade, industry and competition, is the new sponsor of the “revived” bill and said passing it will be a “lengthy process” that could take up to two years, but is confident there is a “growing appetite” to regulate online gambling.

“A lot of revenue is being lost because online gambling and betting are not regulated. We have a government that is desperate for cash. This new coalition government will be taking this more seriously than in the past,” Chance told ���ĺ������� GamblingCompliance.

The bill, which was first introduced in 2024, was not processed in its entirety during the last parliament, meaning it “must start again”.

“The next step is to evaluate comments from the public and then present it to my portfolio committee in parliament next year,” Chance said. 

If adopted by the committee, it would go to the National Assembly for deliberation and voting. 

If approved, it would then be sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the country’s second House of Parliament that deals with legislation affecting South Africa's nine provinces. The bill gives significant powers to provincial gambling boards to license gambling operators.

The NCOP would also deliberate and vote on the bill, which if passed would once again go back to the National Assembly for another vote before being sent to the President for final approval. 

The DA has never had a successful private members' bill before; however, since gains in this year’s general election, the party is no longer seen as opposition to the African National Congress (ANC) party, which has governed South Africa since 1994. 

“Now, we have a different situation because of the new government of national unity, formed out of a coalition between the DA, ANC and some smaller parties. This may change the political dynamics with regard to private members' bills tabled by the DA and other coalition parties. We may be able to get the support of the ANC to help get this bill processed,” Chance said.

A separate National Gambling Amendment Bill (B27B), introduced in its current form by the ANC’s trade minister in 2019, was referred to a mediation committee on April 12, according to a parliamentary legislation update.

However, the committee has not been formed yet and the bill is “sitting in no man's land”, according to Chance.