Sports betting market analysts and industry experts alike have had their plates full by being fixated on the rapidly evolving North American sports betting market. Considering the progressive laws being passed by several individual US States and the advent of fantasy sports betting behemoths like FanDuel and DraftKings, we can’t really blame the experts for being preoccupied with what’s happening in North America.
During the same tenure, however, there have been a handful of other continents around the world where sports betting has gotten serious traction and grown by leaps and bounds. One continent which has been particularly outstanding in this regard is Africa. 2021 has been pivotal, it will be remembered as the year when the sports betting market in Africa really found its footing. The spike in GGR completely warrants the rapid expansion of several African sports betting companies that we are witnessing. Just in the rainbow nation, the sports betting Gross Gaming Revenue surpassed an incredible $600 million in the span of 12 months (2021).
A flurry of mergers and acquisitions comes as no surprise considering the growth in the market. There is a lot of demand and companies are joining forces to supply to the growing demands and capture the market as much as possible. A few noteworthy African sports betting mergers and acquisitions that took place in 2021 include WallStreetBets buying South African Football focused media outlet iDiskiTV (without revealing the price), and MultiChoice further increasing its stake in BetKing for an another $280 million.
Below, we take a look at some of the recent developments within the African gambling market as highlighted by Chalkline CEO Daniel Kustelski. Kustelski knows the African market, he previously founded a leading sports betting company in South Africa which was acquired later by Sun International, Africa’s second biggest casino group. He has over a decade of experience in gaming and sports.
Online Sports Betting Providing Huge GGR Gains
Much of the momentum and growth in the African sports betting market seems to be coming from one particular factor – smartphone penetration. As mobile network providers across the continent step up their services and offer reliable internet speed and connectivity, remote sports betting via smartphones and tablet is starting to become widely accessible. Needless to say, African sports betting enthusiasts now enjoy unprecedented convenience and can place their bets on the go.
It was determined that nearly a quarter of the total Gross Gaming Revenue accounted in 2021 came from online gambling. In 2020, the online gambling sector contributed 22% of the total Gross Gaming Revenue for the year. The trend is plain to see, online gambling is slowly but surely taking over the overall gambling market. As players now have more mobile sports betting apps and websites, the online Gross Gaming Revenue continues to increase as a percentage of the overall Gross Gaming Revenue.
Another trend we see is the offering of free to play products by sports betting operators. More and more online gambling operators now offer freebies, especially to new players. These generally come in the form of a welcome bonus (usually a free bet) and this has been significantly effective in roping in new players and getting them to sign up at online sports books. Free to play products are thereby directly acting as a catalyst in the shift to digital gaming and sports betting.
Free to play games and products also serve to give players a risk-free first-time experience of what online gambling is like. This helps engage, educate, and acclimatize players to gambling online or on their mobile devices, as well as create trust between players and the F2P operator brands.
With its increasing popularity and usage, it is really no surprise how sports betting has become legalized in many countries worldwide. Bettors have the luxury of using great reference sites such as Gambling Africa, where all the necessary information and tips about betting in African countries can be found at their disposal.
Local Sportsbook Companies are Looking to Penetrate Foreign Markets
Previously, only large European operators like as Betway had multi-regional operations, but today we’re seeing smaller African enterprises increase their horizons as well.
Some examples of African sports betting companies which have scaled up and now offer their products in more than one nation include Odibets (Kenya and Ghana), Powerbets (now available in SA), Bingwabet (Tanzania and Mozambique), Cola (multiple countries) and the likes of BetKing, Betika, GAL Sports Betting, SportyBet and Bangbet.
State of the Art Gaming Products Now Available to African Bettors
Aside from traditional sports betting products, online gambling operators have also started to introduce a slew of new online gambling games for players. This includes live dealer casino gaming where players can interact and play casino table games with a real human dealer via high-definition video streaming from the comfort of their own homes or while enjoying the portability of their smartphones. A few operators offering live dealer gaming include Hollywoodbets (offering Evolution Gaming’s live casino lobby with low minimum stakes of just ZAR1) and Marshall’s (offering Ezugi’s live casino game catalogue to players).
There is very little doubt that the African sports betting market, particularly the online segment, will grow steadily in 2022 as well.
