{"id":13597,"date":"2025-11-26T12:22:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=13597"},"modified":"2026-04-19T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:26:05","slug":"women-in-gaming-africa-to-co-host-drinks-reception-at-ice-barcelona-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/women-in-gaming-africa-to-co-host-drinks-reception-at-ice-barcelona-2026","title":{"rendered":"Women in Gaming Africa to co-Host drinks reception at ICE Barcelona 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This partnership forms part of WiGA&#8217;s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the gaming industry, while also highlighting Africa&#8217;s growth potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa.- <strong>Women in Gaming Africa (WiGA)<\/strong> is collaborating with the organisers of <strong>ICE Barcelona<\/strong> to host the <strong>ICE WGF Africa Drinks Reception on 20 January 2026<\/strong>, during the second day of the global gaming conference. The event will take place from <strong>5:30pm to 7:00pm <\/strong>at <strong>Fira Barcelona&#8217;s Gran Via&#8217;s CC4 Delegate Lounge and Sky Garden<\/strong>, and will feature drinks, canap\u00e9s and entertainment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This partnership forms part of WiGA&#8217;s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the gaming industry, while also highlighting Africa&#8217;s growth potential. It provides a platform for African regulators, industry leaders and partners to network and discuss the future of gaming in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to global igaming benchmarks and sector reports, women hold around <strong>20-40 per cent<\/strong> of positions in the industry, with higher representation at entry and junior levels (up to 40 per cent) but dropping below 20 per cent in management and C-suite roles. WiGA, launched in 2024 and based in Cape Town, supports women working in gaming, betting, lotteries, technology and fintech through events, training and advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lois Bright<\/strong>, WiGA Founder, emphasised that the partnership with ICE Barcelona strengthens Africa&#8217;s presence in global gaming discussions. She said: &#8220;ICE Barcelona is among the major international gaming conferences. Our presence ensures that Africa is not only in the room, but at the forefront of conversations about innovation, regulation and future industry growth.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Damien Ashton-Wellman<\/strong>, ICE Conference Manager and Head of Content, added: &#8220;ICE Barcelona is committed to strengthening our ties to Africa as a driver of global gaming growth. Partnering with WiGA allows us to connect with communities we are committed to championing: under-represented voices in gaming.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The collaboration comes as Africa&#8217;s gaming market reached <strong>$1.8bn<\/strong> (\u20ac1.66bn) in revenue in 2024, up <strong>12 per cent<\/strong> from 2023. Projections estimate the market will hit <strong>$2.04bn<\/strong> (\u20ac1.88bn) in 2025, with a <strong>12.5 per cent annual growth rate<\/strong> through to <strong>2030<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/South-Africa-flag-900x600-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/digiplus-aims-to-launch-in-south-africa-by-2027'>DigiPlus aims to launch in South Africa by 2027<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This partnership forms part of WiGA&#8217;s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the gaming industry, while also highlighting Africa&#8217;s growth potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":13599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Women in Gaming Africa (WiGA) and ICE Barcelona are co-hosting the ICE WGF Africa Drinks Reception in January 2026 to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion within the global gaming industry, specifically highlighting Africa's significant growth potential. This event provides a crucial networking platform for African regulators and industry leaders amidst projections of the continent's gaming market reaching $2.04bn by 2025 with sustained double-digit growth.","focusai_entities":"Women in Gaming Africa (WiGA), ICE Barcelona, Lois Bright, Damien Ashton-Wellman, DigiPlus","focusai_location":"South Africa, Cape Town, Spain, Barcelona","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.75), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Africa Regulatory Harmonization","query":"What specific regulatory harmonization initiatives are being discussed for the African iGaming market to facilitate this projected growth?"},{"label":"Women in African Gaming","query":"How will the partnership between WiGA and ICE Barcelona translate into tangible advancements for women in C-suite roles within the African gaming sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60021,60011],"tags":[60675,60674,60673],"class_list":["post-13597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-igaming-news","category-south-africa","tag-africas-gaming-market","tag-ice-barcelona","tag-women-in-gaming-africa-wiga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13597"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13611,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13597\/revisions\/13611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}