It looks - finally - as though some of the log jams confronting the national gaming industry are being broken. Not before time.

The first concerns low payout machines (LPMs), new phraseology for one-armed bandits. The intention has always been for around 50 000 of these instruments of chance to be installed in clubs, pubs, taverns (shebeens) and the like.

Among the benefits would be the proper licensing of thousands of shebeens, and that would bring them into the formal net of taxpayers. The presence of LPMs might also convert unstable liquor outlets into solid, economically viable operations.

Monitoring this industry nationwide presented major challenges. The bidding came down to two competing black-empowerment groups, Zonke and Malini. The National Gaming Board went with Zonke, a company whose major shareholders include Mvelaphanda and the Women's Development Bank.

No sooner had the board made its decision than Malini launched a legal challenge. It won an interdict on July 25 which looked as though it would lead to a judicial review. The effect of this latest piece of "courtmail" would be to delay the industry's launch by as much as a year.

I now learn that Malini, which is part of the Nkobi Holdings group, has signalled that it wishes to withdraw from its own action and I understand that the National Gaming Board, which met earlier this week, has agreed to let the matter stand down.

The intriguing part of this sudden volte face is why. It may, of course, partly have been impelled by applications to the court by Zonke, which asked that Malini post guarantees of R22m, and by the Board, which asked for another R3m as security.

But it might also be because Nkobi was at the centre last week of intense activity by the Scorpions investigative unit. It was subjected to a day-long raid, all part of the inquiry into alleged irregularities in the controversial arms deal. Nkobi is owned by Schabir Shaik. His brother, Shamin, is head of the Defence Department's procurement division. Schabir was closely involved in the battle for the third cellular licence. His money was on NextCom, and it employed a similar "courtmail" tactic when it lost.

This time, given the problems confronting the Nkobi group, perhaps the wise decision was that this was a bridge too far.

Presuming no more legal challenges are launched, the LPM industry may lift off by mid-2002. But if the established casino union, apparently led in this by Sun International, persists in its campaign to delay the industry, who knows.

While on the subject of gaming, I see that the Gauteng Gambling Board has set down November 3 for the adjudication of the sixth casino licence for the province, situated in the depressed West Rand. This has become such an interminable circus that I suppose it's too much to hope that this will be the final chapter.

Last week this column carried a complaint about CA-Ratings' review of distressed Regal Bank. CA-Ratings chairman Charl Kocks has since responded vigorously.

It's true, he says, that Regal fooled CA-Ratings. But he also adds that the rating was valid and that what caused Regal's collapse was the run on the bank, not "a fatal deterioration in credit quality". All banks, says Kocks, are highly geared and, if they lose confidence, they will face a run.

"We like to think," writes Kocks, "that our due diligence investigation compares highly favourably with the very best in the world.

"A [credit] ratings agency focuses on the credit quality. If a bank has more cash than it borrowed from depositors and has invested this in higher-rated entities than itself, the bank is pretty good quality. We believe that, until the run [on Regal] started, the rating remained appropriate. Runs are not an event a ratings agency can provide for."

It's unfair, he claims, that I lumped rating agencies in with accountants. But the similarity is obvious. Both claim they are reliant on information given by directors - and accountants go so far as to disavow responsibility for their audits. At least rating agencies don't do that. Yet.

With acknowledgement to the David Gleason and the Financial Mail.