Interactive AFRICA GAMING MARKET KIRON, PRONET,
BETGAMES.TV
players want content that offers extended entertainment. Suppliers needs to be providing gaming content that offers a lower spend with far more regular play – without emptying wallets in a matter of hours. Games orientated towards betting on live outcomes, such as the live dealer proposition, have also far outperformed RNG-based betting gaming, such as slots – or in many cases, virtuals.
Tis pattern can be explained by a variety of factors. First off, the live interaction provides a ready-made replacement for in-play entertainment. Trow in the human-to-human component in many cases, as well as the excitement of instant results, and you have an exceptionally attractive product.
In South Africa, migration to online during lockdown has also been particularly strong, where we have recorded more than a 55 per cent increase in bets taken between February and May – as well as our online player base doubling. Players like the spend small win big options on games and our ‘combination’ (or acca) bet feature allows for this. We are in the process of developing and releasing jackpot features to further enhance this part of our offering to build on our strong performance over the last few months.
However, while more traditional live dealer products have seen a large surge in gameplay too whilst sports were off, once sports were reintroduced, we have seen player numbers reduced just as quickly.
In terms of where the market goes from here is an interesting question. With live sports now back – the biggest factor is whether operators want their online players staying with our
games. Te desire for operators to pull operators back to familiar sports betting territory is going to be too strong to resist.
Margins on sports bets are intrinsically higher than any third-party products, so operators are going to be looking to be looking at strategies to ensure their revamped online offering does not cannibalise the sports wallet.
With a recession now inevitable, my advice to providers eyeing the market is to bring complimentary games that can sit alongside online sportsbook during this long winter. Te key now is low spend, high engagement – and extended playing sessions alongside a stream of sport. No one here is going to want to lose their money in 10 minutes.
cash-focused economies wherever you look. As a result, the closure of shops and the loss of live sport produced a perfect storm through which many countries are continuing to navigate.
Whilst in Europe and Asia online eSports, casino and slots have filled the gap, the lack of a widespread mobile alternative has hampered a similar recovery in Africa. Te perennial issue is mobile data. In Nigeria – where, according to the World Bank, 68 per cent of the population survives on $1.25 per day – the cheapest pre- paid data plan is approximately $0.30 for 50MB. It is therefore pretty fanciful to think that sports-starved customers will turn to data- rich slots with immersive graphics, or heavy virtual content.
Bobby Longhurst, CCO, Pronet Gaming
Betting and gaming has had a particularly tough time in Africa during lockdown, but if there is a positive to be taken from recent months it is that the industry is now in no doubt as to what it needs to do moving forward. Much has been made of the rise of mobile on the continent, and growth rates remain very impressive. Yet retail still rules the roost in
On a more positive note, eSports has seen an uptick, with fans now able to back their favourite Premier League teams through fixed odds betting. Numbers betting – and lucky numbers games in particular – are also very popular and operators are increasingly looking to include them in their mobile offering. At Pronet Gaming, we recently teamed up with ESA Gaming to offer high-performing HTML5 gaming products that have a strong focus on mobile without being data-intensive.
We will also be making an announcement shortly about utilising more realistic alternatives to traditional web browser and operating systems such as Opera Mini.
Tere are alternatives to retail out there, but to loosen its grip and to prevent events like the recent pandemic having such a negative impact in the future, a thoughtful approach that takes into account the nuances of each individual market is essential.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P163
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