Wagering and record keeping
The software that accepts, records, prices and settles bets for a licensed bookmaker.
Laboratory in establishment
Building South Africa’s specialist testing laboratory for online bookmaker software.
SASFA is being established to test wagering and record-keeping systems against the applicable requirements of SANS 1718. The focus is one market, one category of software and evidence that identifies the exact build tested.
Why SASFA
A statutory route, not a closed category
South African law sets competence, accreditation, independence and licensing requirements for a testing agent. It does not reserve the work for named companies.
The case for SASFA is not that existing laboratories should disappear. It is that South Africa can build an independent, locally accountable capability dedicated to the systems its licensed bookmakers use. The measure is the same for every applicant: meet the statutory and technical requirements.
Source: National Gambling Act 7 of 2004, particularly sections 24 and 37–40.
Intended technical focus
Online bookmaker wagering systems
The intended scope centres on wagering and record-keeping software. It will be stated as an intended scope until SANAS accreditation and the testing-agent licence define the exact activities SASFA is authorised to perform.
Accounting and player records
Balances, transactions, limits and records that must remain complete, attributable and recoverable.
Security and significant events
Access control, event logging, failure handling and the evidence needed to reconstruct what happened.
Build identity and change control
The exact version tested, its cryptographic fingerprint and the controlled route from one release to the next.
From standard to deployment
Five different roles, five different records
A laboratory report, an NRCS Letter of Certification and a provincial approval are not interchangeable. The site will preserve that distinction at every stage.
- 01
SABS develops the standard
SANS 1718 defines the applicable technical requirements.
- 02
A licensed testing agent tests
The laboratory tests the named system and exact build, then issues its test report.
- 03
NRCS certifies
The NRCS evaluates the submission and issues the Letter of Certification.
- 04
The provincial authority approves
The relevant board decides whether the system may be deployed by its licensee.
- 05
The bookmaker deploys
The approved build operates under the bookmaker’s provincial licence and conditions.
Planned public verification
One record for the exact build
A provider will not receive a floating “certified” badge. The public record will tie each assurance claim to a named product, version, build fingerprint and issuing body.
View the registry modelPlanned public record
- Legal supplier
- The company responsible for the software
- Product and build
- Version plus SHA-256 or equivalent fingerprint
- SASFA report
- Report number, date, scope and applicable SANS editions
- NRCS record
- Letter of Certification reference when issued
- Provincial approval
- Authority, approval reference, licensee and conditions
- History
- Corrections, supersessions or withdrawals remain visible
Current work
Build the competence before making the claim
SASFA is defining the test scope, quality system, impartiality controls, technical methods, evidence handling and public reporting model required for a credible local laboratory. Discussions with regulatory stakeholders inform that work; they do not constitute recognition or endorsement.