The Zambian government is looking to deploy an electronic system to monitor activities in casinos operating in the country, with violation of gambling regulations on the rise.
“The electronic regulatory system is still undergoing review and is aimed at compelling all casinos in the country to operate within the regulations of the laws of the country,” said Sylvia Masebo, Zambia’s Minister of Tourism and Arts.
She said the system will be monitored centrally and will keep the operations of all casinos in the country in check.
“Once the laws are put in place, government shall not hesitate to close down any casino which will be found operating outside the regulations,” she added.
African governments have in the recent past been turning to technology to improve the efficiency of their operations and to close the loopholes that exist in manual systems of operation.
The Zambian government started its journey towards operating as an e-Government when it commissioned its National Information and Communication Technology Policy in 2006.
Under this policy, the government recognises e-Governance as a powerful enabler of good governance and e-governance programmes are now being explicitly defined and budgeted for in Zambia’s two national development plans.
Just recently, the government announced its plans to complete the national identification card digitisation process, called National Registrations Cards (NRC), before the end of next year. The cards will have the normal details of individuals such as bio-data as well as education qualifications.
Zambia has an Internet penetration of 6.4 percent which the government, through the Ministry of Communication and Transport, seeks to increase significantly by 2015 as it hopes to have automated most of its services.
