Namibia Gambling & Electronic Supplies Windhoek
- Namibia Gambling & Electronic Supplies Windhoek Namibia
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Namibia to Ease Up On Gambling
Namibia’s government has announced plans to publicly revoke its banon the distribution of gambling licences. This would create a lot more jobopportunities and economic prosperity in the country and reflects the face thatNamibia, like the rest of Africa, is trying to capitalise on the gambling surgethat is sweeping the continent.
Namibia’s Current Gambling Laws
The NamibianCasino and Gambling House Act has regulated the industry since 1994, andestablished the Casino Board to licence and supervise operators. The countryresponded enthusiastically, and soon there were several establishments, ofdifferent sizes, spread across Namibia.
Slot City Gambling House Phone and Map of Address: 189 Sam Nujoma Ave, Walvis Bay, Namibia, Namibia, Business Reviews, Consumer Complaints and Ratings for Casinos in Namibia. Online gambling operates in a grey area in Namibia. Though gambling laws have been updated in recent years (2017-18), they do not adequately address online gambling. But this also means that there are no laws against betting online. Namibians are therefore free to bet at offshore online casinos and sportsbooks.
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The sheer number of casinos was difficult to manage, and thegovernment imposed a 10-year moratorium on issuing any new licences in Act 28of 1996. Although this was technically lifted in 2006, no new land-basedcasinos have been established since then.
At the moment there are only 3 legal establishments in the country –2 in capital city Windhoek, and 1 in Swakopmund. Offshore online sites canoperate without facing repercussions, and many of the best operators welcomeNamibian players. As long as the casino or sportsbook is regulated by trustedauthorities, bettors should be safe.
Hundreds of Unlicensed Casinos
The 3 regulated Namibian casinos are, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. Some reports say that the number of unregulated establishments now is about 260; Tourism and Environment Minister Pohamba Shifeta puts the figure at around 3000. In addition, Shifeta says that there are close to 100,000 unlicensed gaming machines in the country – and these could potentially change if international companies such as Betway gets access to the market.
Unregulated operations leave players unprotected, and mean that thegovernment misses out on billons of tax revenue. In addition, regulatorsusually require casinos and bookmakers to support responsible gamblinginitiatives so that players can get help when experiencing problem behaviours.
As the gambling industry in Namibia and the rest of Africa continuesto grow exponentially, many countries are recognising the importance ofsecurity and taxation, and are implementing more regulatory measures. Byimposing more structure while also loosening monopolies, governments stimulatethe sector and allow for more growth.
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Proposed New Gambling Act
Namibia’s government wants to replacethe existing 1994 legislation with the Gaming and Entertainment ControlAct, which will be revised to be more suitable for today’s industry. Alloperators will be monitored via a central control system, so the range ofsecure playing options will increase exponentially. The expected correspondingclimb in revenue will go a long way to boosting the economy.
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Potential for Online Regulations
The combined gambling industry in Africa is predicted to reachannual profits of over $40 billion in the near future, and online casinos andsportsbooks are huge contributors to these earnings. That makes desktop andmobile players as susceptible to exploitation, temptation to gamble irresponsiblyand mistreatment as their land-based counterparts, if not more so because thereare so many more gaming establishments at their fingertips.
In addition, of course, online gambling can generate huge revenuefor governments if they are regularly taxed. Currently Namibian players areprotected if they play at licensed offshore sites, but the country’s economy isnot benefiting. Proper online betting legislation could change that, but as hasbeen seen in several other countries around the world, changing these laws canbe a slow process. Hopefully the new Gaming and Entertainment Control Actheralds the start.
Being a fan of Sports betting, one would always be curious about the various betting options as they move into a new location. A few years ago when I moved into Namibia from Zimbabwe, I owned 2 online sports booking accounts, Unibet and William Hill. I had tried, without success, to open an account with Bet365 and Betway since they could not operate in Zimbabwe and was equally excited about the opportunity of finally being able to do so. So how did it turn out, well I’m glad you asked as I’ll be explaining my experience in Namibia in this Best Sports Betting blog post.
Namibia sports betting options
The gambling laws in Namibia do not explicitly prohibit the operation of various international bookies in the territory, though they apply to local bookmakers. Whilst there are a sizable number of the latter, they rarely offer solid online betting experiences, and one would typically be forced to visit the brick and mortar shop. On a day where I could not place an online bet with international bookies, my visit to the local shop often resulted in disappointment as not many market options are available (and perhaps bookies want to keep it that way).
The biggest advantage that however came with this move was my ability to register an account with Bet365 which truly offers a remarkable betting choice, live coverage, and features. But not without problems as will be explained later.
The options for sports betting in Namibia include the following:
- Local bookies – Truthfully, the local bookies are very far from international standards. There is only one local bookie, Premier Sports Trading, with an online betting platform that is poor, and one has mostly the choice to make a trip to the shop itself to place bets. Even in such a case, there are also not many sports options to place bets on using these local bookies as often choices are limited to football, 1×2 bets or a few overs and under bets.
- Regional Bookies – Looking into the Southern African bookie pool, there are not many bookies operating in the regional countries that would allow one to open an account whilst in Namibia, although they may, of course, allow one to place bets. South African bookies like World Sports Betting allow for one to open an account using Namibian details. The rest of the major South African bookies such as Hollywoodbets, Gbets, Betway, Sunbet, and others only allow for placing bets whilst in Namibia, provided the owner had been registered in South Africa. The good thing about such is they offer deposits in ZAR, which reduces losses due to currency conversion.
- International bookies – The laws, whilst they regulate the local operation of land-based bookies, do not seem to affect international bookies. As such, there is a vast number of offshore International bookies such as Bet365, William Hill, Betway and many others which accept Namibian punters, although limiting the choice of deposits to the use of the USD, GBP or Euro currency in some cases. There is, therefore, a loss when it comes to currency exchange. I have previously tried in vain to make use of local bank cards to make deposits into international bookies such as Bet365 and Unibet, and there appears to be a restriction on the bank. My way around this was to make use of e-wallets (Skrill and Neteller) for making deposits into the bookies, with a few additional fees, however. Skrill deposits became completely banned as Namibia is now one of Skrill’s specified countries.
My luck ran out in the last weeks of February 2020 when Bet365 stopped accepting any deposits using Neteller, limiting me to the options of credit, debit cards or wired transfer only. Bet365 has of late also become notorious also on restricting betting when you are in a country that is NOT your country of registration.
Casinos in Namibia
The local offerings for casinos are mostly limited to visiting a brick and mortar casinos for an assortment of slots and table games whose availability is only limited to three cities. I have not enjoyed their somewhat rigid wagering terms when it comes to roulette. There is however increased visibility of “Jackpot” Bergmann Roulette machines, commonplace around the country.
These, however, have poor variety, and most would prefer the use of international casinos for online gambling. The options, in this case, are very wide, including popular casinos such as William Hill, Genesis Casino, and many others that mostly offer transactions in USD/EUR/GBP. Take note that NetEnt casino games are banned from operating in Namibia, and any access using a Namibian IP address will not be allowed.
How to bet from Namibia
There are a number of betting options that can be pursued by punters in Namibia. I would not recommend local bookies as these have very poor game selection and services. Whilst South African bookies can be accessed and offer the best option if one does not wish to lose the value of money during currency exchange, only a few accept new customer deposits.
A majority will, however, accept bets provided one has an account with them already. International bookies are also very good options – Skrill is not available for use, whilst Neteller may be restricted in some cases. My best advice for those wanting to place sports bets from Namibia is to sign up with a South African bookmaker, rather than an internationally based one!