How to Enter the Online Sports Betting Market in Africa, For Operators, Affiliates
Kenya has routinely placed among the top five referring nations for Gambling911.com readership traffic, especially during the height of soccer (what the rest of the world calls Football).
“I think there has been a tremendous amount of growth in Africa, a tremendous amount of attention on betting in Africa. I think if anybody is getting involved in Africa its very important to realize that basically Africa effectively is 54 different countries. And each of those countries is different. And when it comes to betting, each of those countries are different”, Andrew Dagnall, BettorLogic’s CEO, recently disclosed to Becky Liggero of CalvinAyre.com.
Dawid Muller of Gidani Ltd believes that the African nations are making progress toward regulating gambling with an increased appetite in the activity.
"The biggest challenge is that (countries) are still working from old legislation," he says. "Plenty of countries have amended their legislation and brought in regulatory frameworks."
It's All About Soccer
The focus is less on casino games and more on soccer.
“I think majority of Africa is concentrated primarily on football betting and the football betting is restricted to very much the leagues the locals know about which tends to be the fairly typical leagues that us Europeans are well aware of”, Dagnall explained.
There is also a simplicity when it comes to gambling on this sport as opposed to the European market place where punters want to wager on countless aspects of a particular game.
“I think its fair to say that if you tried to explain to an African bettor what handicapping means, it all gets a bit confusing. They like things very simple- they like goal markets, they like both teams to score and they like the 1×2 markets”, explained Dagnall.
The demand for sports betting has reached a fever pitch in African nations like Uganda, but with the average person living on only a dollar a day, operators may be a bit apprehensive when it comes to targeting such a market.
Officials say even school-going children are now involved in gambling, this in a country where nearly 65 percent of the young working age population remains unemployed.
Low Internet connectivity and limited access to devices present additional obstacles throughout much of Africa.
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Sports Betting in Africa Becoming Big Business
Despite obvious concerns and obstacles, Uganda will play host to the Sports Betting East Africa Conference in April 2018. Nigeria will do so for the West African conference next month (July 17-19).
Those sports betting operators and affiliates looking to break into the African market should consider hot topics discussed at these conferences.
Agenda items include:
*How to streamline business operations in Africa
*How to reduce the effects of exchange rate fluctuation
*Understanding the regulatory framework for sports betting in West Africa
*Keeping abreast with the latest developments in the industry
*FIFA’s Match–fixing prevention initiatives
*Effective marketing strategies for operators
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Last year’s Africa Sports Betting Conference, the second of its kind, was seen as a success.
As Liggero notes in her piece, one of the most appealing characteristics about the African market is its promise of growth and the ability to better educate sports bettors.
“I personally think there are opportunities to grow the market and I think there are opportunities to be able to educate the market so then the player becomes more enriched in betting and then you’re more likely to increase the longevity of the player”, Dagnall said.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
