Egypt’s parliament is making amendments to the nation’s cybercrime law which would explicitly make online betting apps illegal and carry potential penalties, including life in prison for the worst offenders.
Online gambling has long been prohibited in Egypt but its laws focused on licenced, physical gambling sites, not internet-based activities.
In spite of the ban, many Egyptians do use VPNs to log on to overseas gambling sites and pay via foreign cards.
Last month, the chairman of the House Communications and Information Technology Committee said that the government was in the process of drafting amendments to the Cybercrime Law outlawing online gambling apps. According to Ahmed Badawi the proposed sanctions could result in the offender being jailed for life when criminal networks or those involved in large-scale fraud were operating the app.
Early last month, the chairman added that in cooperation with his parliamentary communications committee, an investigation by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation had led to the blocking of roughly 80% of online betting apps.
Authorities already have clamped down on operators, with 1xBet’s activities suspended last September and was then removed from both the App and Play Store following complaints from parliamentarians, with Badawi confirming that similar action is being taken against MelBet, another app involved with a foreign-licensed bookie.
Badawi stated that the government aimed to fight undesirable apps, close the regulatory loopholes allowing for their proliferation, rather than simply curbing technology.
A separate legislative initiative was also launched earlier this year that called for electronic betting to be made illegal. If adopted, Martha Mahrous, the Deputy Chairman of the Communications and Information Technology Committee would bring into effect three penalty tiers: a maximum prison sentence of five years and £1-5m ($20-100k) fine would be issued against agents and coordinators, £50k-200k ($1-4k) against payment facilitate partners and EGP5m-10m ($100-200k) against those operating, and sponsoring, the betting apps.
MP Martha Mahrous said:
We are facing a kind of addiction and scientifically we treat the young person as addicted to these practice.
The final laws have not yet been discussed in parliament, although it had been suggested that the government would be submitting amendments after Eid al-Adha but these were yet to be submitted.
