NSoft studies African market
The Regional Sales Manager of the company came up with a regulatory mapping of Africa’s emerging markets.
Kenya.- Africa as the rising star on the iGaming market has been especially interesting when it comes to a real omnichannel experience. NSoft has been interested in the African market given the fact that there is no barrier to overseas investment or operators entering the market provided they respect and adhere to the regulations as with any other jurisdiction.
In recent years, the number of countries that have adopted their own regulatory framework is on the rise and regulations are seen to be of crucial importance providing benefits to all stakeholders being involved in the iGaming industry. As a result, the regulatory framework provides a safer environment to operators, suppliers, and consumers enabling progressive opportunities in every aspect of their interest.
NSoft is aware of the benefits the African market provides and this short overview is to draw a big picture of potentials and regulations that Africa offers.
The Kenyans are African leaders when it comes to betting. It is the most betting crazed nation where 70% of punters bet at least once a week. Even their top Google searches, 11 out of top 20, are overwhelmed with betting related keywords. People in Africa mostly bet over mobile phone or web, and that is why they have the highest number of gambling-related mobile usage in Africa. Retail shops are present, but not as in Europe and some other African countries. Kenya is the birthplace of mobile money, a money method mostly used to top-up betting accounts not only in Kenya but also in entire sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana is, in general, one of the better-developed countries in Africa, and especially when it comes to the betting industry. It is well known that the iGaming market in Ghana offers predominantly the retail-based betting experience having all of the major regional operators present. During the last 5 years, NSoft has witnessed internet infrastructure development resulting in a rapid rise of internet users, ranging from 3 million users in 2013 to over 10 million in 2018.
Cameroon is a country that is up and on a rising path in the betting industry. With the population of 24.5 million, the potential is enormous: the most dominant form of betting is sports betting, while virtual sports are present, but way less popular than in other African countries. This might be due to the fact that most of the retail shops are actually street vendor style shops that are cheap to set up and offer exclusively sports betting.
Lesotho is a small country and lacking development in many aspects and industries. Surprisingly, this is not the case with Lesotho’s betting industry. The betting industry is developed to the extent it easily surpasses some European countries. Sports betting, virtual games, casino games, mobile apps, retail shops – you name it, they have it. The only limitation they have is their population of 2.2 million having only three active operators that are slowly reaching their maximum. The most popular form of betting are sports betting and virtual games, especially drawn based game Lucky 6, which is being followed by virtual football league and lottery betting.
Tanzania, with its population of 59M, is perceived as one of the biggest potentials for the betting industry. The industry is exponentially on the rise in the past 5 years and just between 2014 and 2016 the sports betting revenue grew by 95%. The retail business was already well developed and in 2016 there were more than 2,000 shops and terminals in the country. The Tanzanian government has invested a lot in the internet infrastructure which resulted in having one of the biggest internet user bases in Africa.
Africa is drawing interest from worldwide operators
To sum up, Africa has been attracting substantial interest from operators keen to diversify their activities away from costly European countries. At this point, Kenya is the leader when considering the regulations, potential, and gambling related mobile usage. Ghana and Cameroon are perceived as success stories and a reference for the upcoming changes in the region. NSoft seeks for stable legal frameworks and perceives them as a safeguard for substantial investments, whilst, of course, ensuring the player’s interest.
