GAMING IN AFRICA Staying ahead of the curve
Sportingtech’s director of sales Africa, Mark Schmidt, delves into the company’s expansion into Africa and approach to bolstering its footprint in the continent.
ahead of their competitors. We take a quality over quantity approach when it comes to new clients and that allows us to focus on their varying needs and priorities. It is always about taking a hands-on approach with each individual client.
LatAm has been a significant market for Sportingtech and you have successfully established a strong foothold in the region. What lessons have you learnt about differentiation and customisation in LatAm that will be beneficial as you grow further into Africa? MS: It is no secret that LatAm has been a huge growth area for us in the last 18 months or so. A lot of that success is down to us being agile as a business. LatAm, much like Africa, is made up of individual countries with their own nuances - one size does not fit all. We can’t use the same product and expect it to work across the region, so diversification is a key focus of ours. Whilst football is synonymous with both Africa and LatAm, it’s important for us to deliver a product suite with different types of players in mind, and ensure their preferences are considered. Crash games are big at the moment and
casino has seen a huge boom. In South Africa casino has taken off massively, whereas in other parts of the continent it is slowly getting there. Historically, players mostly place football accumulators, but we have seen a shift with casino’s rising popularity because of free spins and enhanced player education. Giving a player a free go at the game to understand how it works before they part ways with their money has really driven revenue significantly. Player education is key.
Following your partnerships with Tier 1 operators in Africa at the end of last year, how has Sportingtech’s expansion into Africa developed? What has been successful and what has proven a challenge? Mark Schmidt: Nothing is straight forward in any region where iGaming is concerned and Africa is no different. Each country has unique challenges regarding changing regulation, payments and diverse product requirements. The needs of a client in Nigeria will be starkly different than in Kenya, and it is down to us to ensure a seamless process and ensure content and platforms adhere to each jurisdiction’s legislation. Sportingtech has the expertise and knowledge to ensure our clients are always
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The various markets across Africa have wide-ranging regulatory frameworks. How do you plan to stay ahead of the curve while complying with different regulations? MS: For any turnkey platform provider, being front and centre in their approach is key to adapting quickly to change, as has been seen in Nigeria, Kenya, and other parts of Africa over the last 18 months to two years. The constant changes in regulation have pushed a lot of operators out for various reasons, and have made a lot of new entrants planning on entering the market apprehensive.
Sportingtech’s approach is always to be proactive rather than reactive to these
Sportingtech has the expertise and knowledge to ensure our clients are always ahead of their competitors
changes. We have an inhouse compliance and regulatory team that stays on top of updates. As a commercial team, we are informed continuously about upcoming changes and what rumours are in the market. We take a consultative approach with new operators as well as existing ones. It is not about signing a deal and leaving them on their own to figure it out. In saying that, it is very, very tricky and we don’t really know for sure what is around the corner.
What lies ahead for the continent and how do you see both land-based and online gaming will develop? MS: Over the course of the last decade, on many of the panels I’ve been on, there has been someone saying land-based is dead and mobile will take over. To a point, mobile has taken over in various countries and there’s no doubt about that. But there is still very much a space for land-based operations and that is largely country dependent. You can’t just be a retail-only land-based operator now - it’s very difficult to survive in such a competitive market. That’s why at Sportingtech we have a full omnichannel solution. Retail will still have a strong position for the foreseeable future. Africa is not like the UK high street where there are three or four betting shops. In Nigeria, there are 3,000 to 5,000 arcades, which shows how big the retail and land-based space still is there.
Looking ahead, the one big shift we have observed is media and telecom companies are making a big push into Africa, in partnership with quite sizeable operators that have been around for some time. They have become a lifestyle brand with the backing of big media behind them. It is driving new player acquisition and it’s not just a one-stop shop, they’re covering off multiple bases now. That’s the one big change we’re seeing.
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