Greyhound racing in South Africa: updating an old debate with the emerging 'moral' standard in international law

Whether greyhound racing ought to be legalised in South Africa has been an ongoing debate for the better part of the past two decades. From its official inception in South Africa in 1932 until its ban in 1949, organised greyhound racing was a profitable industry, despite its reputation as a crass and corrupt commercial enterprise.1 The current legal position in South Africa is that any betting on dog races is prohibited under the National Gambling Act.2 Section 83 designates it as an unlicensed gambling activity, while section 74 specifically prohibits it as an unlawful activity. In 2010, the Gambling Review Commission (hereinafter the Commission) submitted a report to the Minister of Trade and Industry, presenting its findings and recommendations on the regulation of various gambling issues that had arisen in South Africa over the previous decade. The article will focus on gambling associated with greyhound racing. Due to the continuation of the old debate concerning the legalisation of greyhound racing, the Commission decided to investigate the inherent characteristics of this form of gambling in order to gain insight into the effectiveness of current gambling regulatory measures, and to contemplate any regulatory developments that will be required should the endeavours to legalise greyhound racing succeed. The majority of the Commission believed that greyhound racing should not be legalised in South Africa, while the minority insisted that more work needed to be done for an informed decision to be made. Yet, no further developments or research has taken place since 2010, and illegal greyhound racing is still ongoing and completely unregulated. The Department of Trade and Industry published an 'Invitation for the public to comment on the National Gambling norms and standards' on 23 May 2014 and included greyhound racing as an additional gambling activity that may need to be regulated by legislation and norms and standards. A definitive stance on the matter is thus, long overdue.