SBC Lisbon may have wrapped, but you can still reap the rewards. Whether you were in Lisbon soaking up the energy or couldn’t make it this year, we’ve got something special for you, writes Lauren Harrison.
Today, we’re thrilled to be joined by Evgen Belousov, CEO of GR8 Tech, a prestigious iGaming platform and solutions provider, and Paris Anatolitis, CEO of the Moja Group, the leading digital operator in Africa.
These two industry trailblazers teamed up to deliver a highly anticipated session at SBC Lisbon—“Getting Geo-Specific in Africa: Tailoring Tech for Success”—, where they shared invaluable strategies for mining Africa’s rapidly evolving iGaming market.
But the conversation doesn’t end there.
In this latest iGF interview our Head of Content Curtis Roach catches-up with Evgen and Paris off-stage to dive deeper into the topic and unpack the potential of African iGaming markets, the unique challenges present, and explore how operators can use the latest technology to employ geo-specific solutions that drive conversions and retention.
Curtis began by asking:
No country in Africa is the same. What regions are you most focused on? What do you see as the key growth drivers for these countries?
Paris: “That’s a great question, and you’re 100 percent right. Countries in Africa are not the same. There are language and dialect differences, varying cultural backgrounds – and much more to be mindful of.
“Right now, we’re focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in markets with access to licensing. Our priority is choosing markets where we think we can acquire profitably, those which we can penetrate and gain a [decent] market share by offering an attractive product and experience and building long-term relationships and success.”
Evgen: “Definitely, every country is different in terms of religion, historical background, infrastructure, level of development, and so on.
“We often forget how big Africa is. Algeria, the biggest country on the continent, for example, is over 2,500 square kilometres, roughly half the size of the USA; so it’s incredibly diverse.
“As a software provider, GR8 Tech has to consider local regulations for each country, and countries in Africa are no exception. We must also look at experience and operator demand, local geo-trends–and who dictates them: players or operators–as well as operational issues, and how we work with partners.”
Compared to more established markets like Europe, Africa is still very young. What are some of the biggest technical challenges of operating in a market like this? How does it impact product development?
Paris: “When I started working in the African market about two years ago, it was clear that my past European product learnings would not apply in Africa. We needed to put together a unique proposition to address the local needs.
“The average African player does not have access to high-end smartphones. They typically have slow processing power, lower-resolution screens, and not everybody can access mobile data. Plus, if they do, it’s generally not high-speed. These constraints meant that we needed to build an experience that was light enough for the players’ phones to handle, yet rich enough for them to enjoy and want to continue betting. We worked with GR8 Tech to achieve this.
“The second biggest challenge–a key market requirement–was the development of mobile money solutions.
“We understand that most people in Africa cannot access bank accounts, credit cards, or debit cards. The phone fundamentally is your wallet, meaning we needed a customised payment solution that allows customers to deposit and withdraw winnings quickly, within seconds, directly from the phone.”
Evgen: “I think Paris has covered most of the bases in his answer. We were responsible for integrating the required providers and ensuring all elements, like mobile payments, worked with the technical constraints mentioned.
“Working with the Moja Team, we did this across the whole product, including the user interface, payments, and retention techniques.
“We also analysed and processed the typical player flows so we knew which areas to optimise regarding speed, considering local usage and constraints.
“How have you leveraged new technology to create the most effective geo-specific products? How easy is it to customise your products based on local operator needs?”
Evgen: “Our products are fully customisable. And we built them this way, meaning adaptability is at the core of the product’s architecture and part of its nature. Operators can add and remove modules, like casino or sportsbook, and do the same with widgets, customising them for their brand.
“For example, if you want to build a unique cashier page; our team can do this upon request, or if the operator has enough resources and experience, they can do it themselves. This makes it easy and provides autonomy for operators. As we focused on efficiency in the design, the modifications rely on non-resource-heavy solutions.
“During your joint session at SBC Summit Lisbon, you discussed combining different content features on one page to help convert more players. Why do you think it had this impact, and how can it be best adopted going forward?”
Paris: “When we analysed consumer behaviour, we saw that players really like laying big accumulator bets, sometimes on seven to ten matches on the same bet slip. It became clear to us that we needed to prepare a page that allows consumers to see many events and games simultaneously, which isn’t typical. Usually, you can see around three or four different matches and then need to scroll because there’s a lot of rich information and data.
“We decided to clean things up, which in many cases can mean losing the richness of data, but it also allows us to list more events on one screen and makes the site faster. In return, this enabled players to build their bet slips quicker and make bet selections faster, spending less time searching and more time betting, thus improving our margins and conversions.”
African players are renowned for making high-volumes of low-value bets. How have you adapted your product with features to leverage this pattern of play even when there aren’t so many sporting events to bet on?
Evgen: “We worked closely with AWS and CloudFlare so that our platform can deal with high volumes of traffic and data requests. Our system architecture allows for a high standard of customer experience at an extreme scale, successfully managing large volumes of transactions seamlessly, which is perfect for key African market conditions.”
Paris: “Specific features like bet builder are relatively new to the African market and fit this pattern. We know that the typical player likes to build bets with multiple selections. And while there are always a lot of games on Saturday and Sunday, midweek, or during some significant sporting events, like the Euros or World Cup, there are not so many games played on the same day.
“Bet Builder allows players to make multiple choices, but this time, from the same event, so it also helps push our margin higher.”
Editor’s Note:
Africa’s iGaming market is booming. But it comes with its own unique and very special challenges – particularly regarding technology and infrastructure.
Unlike other regions, success here requires a deep understanding of the continent’s diverse markets and consumer needs and relies in great part on the primacy of mobile phones.
Evgen and Paris explained that success in this context means going beyond pre-existing solutions. Instead, it involves creating highly-localised products that tackle the unique tech challenges experienced in these markets, like limited data availability and slower internet, and device processing speeds.
For GR8 Tech and Moja Group, this has meant designing and developing lightweight, customisable solutions that streamline processes but still deliver big on the entertainment factor.
It’s an approach that allows their partners to meet the growing player demand while localising and personalising their offerings across different African markets.
