Africa’s iGaming Market to See Explosive Growth in the Coming Years
LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The first iGaming business emerged sometime in the mid-1990s when a pair of young entrepreneurs merged their homegrown secure online payment solution with the allure of casino games to create the first online casino. Since then, iGaming has grown into a multi-billion dollar business, shedding many of its early issues with bad actors and flawed regulations, even breaking into markets that are too conservative for them (think of the USA, for example, that recently legalized online casinos and poker, not to mention sports betting, at a federal level). Today, iGaming is present in pretty much every market in one form or another. There are local operators as well as major international betting and gambling groups across the market, reaching millions of players and offering a myriad of options to them.
The iGaming industry’s growth in Africa was slow mostly because of its lacking internet infrastructure and the regulations that were not up-to-date. In recent years, though, with the spread of smartphones and mobile data coverage, the number of potential players – and the revenue they generate – has been growing quickly. And in a few years, specialists expect the African iGaming market to grow explosively.
A massive pile of money
Today, anyone with a smartphone in their pockets can check out the odds or play Betway online casino games easily. There are still issues to work out, of course – the critics of the available solutions scrutinize the betting and gambling groups especially for the inefficient nature of their age gates – but these are being worked on as we speak. According to iGaming intelligence specialist H2 Gambling Capital, the total value of the African online gambling market reached an estimated US$996 million in 2019, showing continuous growth since the company started following its value in 2012.
While the African gambling market was dominated by retail outlets for a long time – due especially to several countries’ deficient internet infrastructure – the number of connected users (and potential customers) is continuously growing. According to H2 Gambling Capital, the value of the African iGaming business will likely more than double in the next five years, reaching an estimated level of more than $2 billion by 2024.
Popular verticals
The most popular vertical identified by the company is casino gaming, responsible for more than 40% of the gross win in 2019. Sports betting is the second most popular, capturing more than 35% of the market. The market is currently dominated by retail outlets, capturing more than 92% of the total last year – this too will change, though, in the coming years. According to H2 Gambling Capital, by 2024, almost 25% of all gamers will use a connected device (especially a smartphone) to place a bet.