Africa is among the most promising markets for iGaming in 2024.
In 2021, the online gambling market size on the African continent reached $3.5 billion, and it’s only going to grow over the next years. That is why GBC Time interviewed Hmayak Manukyan, Regional Director Africa at Technamin. Manukyan told our team about the development of African market, the hottest trend, and the most popular gambling products.
How has the African market evolved over the past years? What are the recent trends there at the moment?
The main indicators of African markets’ development are the rapidly growing population, improvement of internet quality, accessibility to smartphones and other devices, as well as regulatory actions. By 2050, Africa’s young people, those aged between 0 and 24 years, will witness an increase of around 50% in population. Africa is expected to have the most significant number of young people which will have its direct effect on the iGaming sector. Though the population is using a wide range of devices from old to modern, and only 800 million people have access to smartphones, the number of smartphone users in Africa is rapidly growing, and mobile games and casino sites are more accessible than ever.
At the same time, this growth will not be possible without internet quality improvements. Very limited number of countries have 5G, such as South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, while the rest of the continent is on 4G. Anyway, internet connection is nowadays much faster and more stable, which contributes to a better gaming experience. The last and most important factor is the regulatory framework. South Africa was the first country that legalized gambling in 2004, and its positive experiences inspired others to allow gambling within their borders such as Kenya and Nigeria. The last one is considered as a leader in the iGaming sector. The same goes for Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana.
There are some attempts to implement regulations in the Tunisia and Morocco markets, but it will definitely take some time.
What solutions are more required in the region that providers should cater to?
Again, we should look at the picture from a geographical point of view. While mostly in all North African countries providers need just a simple platform integrated with sportsbook and casino, along with the possibility of covering payments solutions, in all other regions of Africa they will definitely face issues with handling operators’ business needs with the same logic. In comparison with North African countries, Central, Western, Eastern, and South regions are widely retail and that forces providers to have well developed betting shop solutions with cashier commission tools, as well as software availability for POS and terminals.
When it comes to online, providers should bear in mind that players are using a large variety of devices from old VAP devices to modern smartphones. Ergo, the UX of the products must be adaptive.
Providers should be capable of delivering an experience which will be more cost-effective, keeping in mind the expensive internet in the region., The alternatives are USSD/SMS betting solutions.
Another important thing is to have sportsbook solutions with developed bonus systems and features such as Book a Bet, Cash Out, Bet Generator, Jackpots, Social Bet, etc.
And last but not least, providers should be able to provide an efficient system that is capable of dealing with massive quantities of bets, as the average ticket in Africa is 20-30 cent.
From an operator’s perspective, what products are more preferred in the region?
From the first sight it may seem the African region’s top product is mainly the sportsbook. But in reality there are many specifications among the regions. In MENA, you will see mostly casino oriented markets; however, sportsbooks are also in high demand. In Western and Eastern Africa, Virtual Sport is quite popular among players. In Eastern and Southern Africa you will see a plethora of players making bets on Horse Racing. In some markets, Lottery and scratch games have high volume in revenue of operators.
Technamin is set to appear at ICE London 2023. What can African attendees expect at your stand?
There are two cornerstones for a provider when it comes to giving the best experience for operators in Africa. First and foremost, a provider should be on the ground. It is very important to meet directly, not just with a call, but face to face. Providers must have a great reputation and excellent reviews. Technamin is just starting its journey in Africa, but we already have several promising projects which allow us to move forward confidently. The second aspect is technical, and Technamin possesses the high quality solutions, which are required to enter a market as diverse as Africa, including a managed sportsbook, a dynamic casino, a fully customisable platform, and a myriad of additional services. We are more than happy to demo all of these at our ICE stand, S2-120!
