{"id":17295,"date":"2026-01-29T15:05:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=17295"},"modified":"2026-04-19T09:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:26:28","slug":"francophone-africa-sees-rising-gaming-participation-on-mobile-and-betting-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/francophone-africa-sees-rising-gaming-participation-on-mobile-and-betting-platforms","title":{"rendered":"Francophone Africa sees rising gaming participation on mobile and betting platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The trend is supported by widespread smartphone use, affordable data and the availability of licensed online betting sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire.- Francophone Africa<\/strong>, led by Ivory Coast<\/strong> and Senegal<\/strong>, has seen increased gaming participation, driven largely by a rise in mobile casinos and sports betting registrations that offer easier access than traditional venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, Senegal\u2019s national lottery operator, LONASE, reported earning FCFA27bn<\/a> in the first nine months of the year, much of it attributed to rising activity on digital platforms. Likewise, LONACI, the national lottery of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, posted turnover of FCFA561bn<\/strong> (\u20ac855m) in 2024, up 8.3 per cent<\/strong> from the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry reports project Ivory Coast\u2019s overall igaming market, including mobile casinos, to reach US$820m<\/strong> (\u20ac760m) this year, with sports betting alone estimated at US$121m<\/strong> (\u20ac112m). The trend is supported by widespread smartphone use, affordable data and the availability of licensed online betting sites. In C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, more than half of the population uses smartphones, with mobile money services such as Orange Money accounting for between 70 and 80 per cent<\/strong> of deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sector\u2019s growth is contributing to government tax receipts while supporting job creation in technology and operations. LONACI, for example, channelled FCFA6.75bn<\/strong> (\u20ac10.3m) into community projects last year. Earlier this year, LONASE announced a contribution of FCFA5bn<\/strong> (\u20ac7.6m) to national savings for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To combat the social risks that could arise from the rapid growth of online gambling, regulators are strengthening responsible gambling initiatives and deploying tools such as the new central platform introduced in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire to monitor transactions and curb unlicensed operators.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Crash games lead mobile gambling boom across Africa<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trend is supported by widespread smartphone use, affordable data and the availability of licensed online betting sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":17299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Francophone Africa, particularly C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and Senegal, is experiencing significant iGaming growth, driven by mobile penetration and licensed online platforms. National lottery operators LONACI and LONASE report substantial turnover increases, with C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire's iGaming market projected to reach US$820m this year. Regulators are concurrently enhancing responsible gambling measures and combating unlicensed operations to manage sector expansion.","focusai_entities":"LONASE, LONACI, Orange Money","focusai_location":"C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Senegal, Africa, Ivory Coast","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.75), marketing_crm (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact on Growth","query":"How might the strengthening of responsible gambling initiatives and the deployment of central transaction monitoring platforms in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire impact the operational costs and market entry strategies for new B2C operators?"},{"label":"Mobile Money Integration","query":"Given that mobile money accounts for 70-80% of deposits in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, what specific integration challenges and opportunities does this present for international iGaming operators seeking to enter or expand within the Francophone African market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60021,60012],"tags":[45,1593,78],"class_list":["post-17295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-igaming-news","category-west-africa","tag-online-gambling","tag-responsible-gambling","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17295","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=17295"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17373,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17295\/revisions\/17373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}