iGamingFuture’s much-anticipated East Africa event kicked off today in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with over 100 top-level iGaming leaders in attendance.
Sasa Krneta, Chair of the Kenya Gaming Association (AGOK) formally opened the all-day conference being held at the prestigious Carnivore restaurant and conference centre, welcoming delegates and urging them to embrace the ground-breaking possibilities of one of the world’s most dynamic online gambling markets.
According to latest available reports, the 360 Africa gambling market, embracing digital, land-based and lottery, is expected to reach a total value of US$20.5 billion (£15.10bn) this year, 2025; with a compound annual growth rate of over two percent.
South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are the biggest markets.
And iGaming–super-charged by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and the explosion of mobile phone use and coverage–now dominates the nascent market.
Major Force
“Before Covid retail was the major force in African gambling,” podium speaker Praveen Sadalage, Chief Business Development Officer of Servtach, told attendees.
“But now the balance has completely shifted. Today 85 percent of the market is online,” said Sadalage.
Not surprisingly in a sports-mad continent, where African athletes and, increasingly, African football players are emerging as superstars in their respective sporting fields, sports betting is the major vertical.
Some 60 percent of bettors, aged between 18 and 35-years-old, prefer betting on sport – especially football, concur most recent studies.
Principal sponsors of today’s (June 12) iGF event are BetConstruct, SOFTSWISS, Genius Sports, EGT and Amusnet.
Among the 100 attendees were Alisa Alisa, Head of Africa at 22Bet; Zorair Asadour, Business Development Manager at SOFTSWISS; Matt Barker, Business Development Manager at Genius Sports; Lois Bright, Founder at Women in Gaming Africa; Graham Etyang, Commercial Manager Africa at EGT Kenya; Erick Gerald, Head of Operations at Parimatch; Maksym Golubiev, CEO at N1Bet; and Jimmy Kenneth, Country Manager at Betway Tanzania.
Jeremiah Maangi, CEO at iGaming Afrika; Colin McDonagh, Chief Strategy Officer at Gamma Gaming Group; Sabrina Msuya, Chief Communications Officer at SportPesa (TZ); Sabrina H. Msuya, Chairperson at Tanzania Gaming Association; and Clive Muchoki, CEO at ProSport Africa were also attending.
Huge Opportunity
“Africa is a huge opportunity for [international] operators,” Job Weku, a leading Kenyan iGaming consultant, told iGamingFuture.
“But it also presents many unique challenges,” he cautioned. “Many operators are new and learning as they go. It’s critical to have good local partners to help navigate the regulatory bureaucracy and build a profitable business,” said Weku, a former General Manager for Betika and Kwikbet.
Kenya, population 53.35 million, is East Africa’s biggest gambling market; with over 80 percent of adults having betting experience.
This nation has 30 licensed land-based casinos and, with an estimated Internet penetration of almost 50 percent, 225 licensed online operators.
Last year the gambling industry, with a tax rate of 15 percent on GGR, generated the equivalent of £138.24 million (US$187.64m) in revenue for the state.
Tanzania and Uganda, smaller regional markets, with less mobile phone and Internet penetration, generated less in taxes from their gambling industries, £59.54 million (US$80.83m) and £32.62 million (US$44.3m), respectively.
At the top of the day’s agenda were presentations exploring the “Future of Game Content”, the “Evolution of Sportsbook”, moderated by Will Westcott, of Genius Sports; “The Power of Women in iGaming” and “Navigating The Future of East African Regulation”.
