Interactive
IGAMING IN AFRICA ROUNDTABLE ESA GAMING, PRONET GAMING,
BETGAMES.TV, SOFTBET
Roundtable: Africa’s iGaming potential
Recent years have seen the African online gambling market boom and iGaming legislative reform could soon see a shift towards mass regulation of the industry, expedited by Covid-19. G3 discusses the future of the African online sector with Richard Hogg, Maria Luisa Malfasi, Oksana Tsyhankova and Mark Schmidt, who assess markets with the greatest potential.
Traditionally dominated by sports betting, does the casino industry have a future on the continent?
Maria Luisa Malfasi, Business Development Manager at ESA Gaming: Absolutely, though the experience should be tailored towards local players for the online casino industry to succeed. It is crucial for suppliers to understand the market they are targeting. For the African continent, this does not mean graphic-heavy games we are used to seeing in Europe. Suppliers need to move away from the heavy and over-produced slots that are popular in Europe.
Instead, they should concentrate on developing user-friendly, lightweight games that are
specifically designed for mobile. More complex casino games should be avoided, and the focus should be on tried, trusted and, most importantly, recognised games from the land- based sector.
Lightweight games designed to aid cross-sell from a largely sports driven player base can be at the forefront of this such as our EasySwipe HTML5 mobile games portfolio.
Mark Schmidt, Director of Sales for Africa at Pronet Gaming: It’s not that casino doesn’t have a future as such, but it’s a long way off competing on an equal footing with sports betting. Te reasons for this are multifarious. Online casino entertainment remains unfamiliar territory for many people, whilst
Patchy network coverage and high data costs restrict the type of content available on mobile devices, limiting the offering to ‘lite’ versions of games that don’t have as much weight. With more and more operators now taking mobile platforms seriously in the wake of Covid-19, however, we may see more attention given to the online casino proposition.
P62 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
sports are a cultural pillar of many African nations and attract a huge, enthusiastic following.
Although gaming is beginning to gain some momentum in some of the more mature economies, it is still yet to reach volumes that are anywhere near critical. Patchy network coverage and high data costs also restrict the type of content available on mobile devices, limiting the offering to ‘lite’ versions of games that don’t have as much weight. With more and more operators now taking mobile platforms seriously in the wake of Covid-19, however, we may see more attention given to the online casino proposition.
Oksana Tsyhankova, Operations Director at Soft2Bet: Although it is still a long way from matching the sports betting vertical, Africa’s casino industry has a promising future. Self-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110
