How can African operators benefit from lessons learned from the rest of the world?

In this panel discussion, which took place during the SiGMA Africa Conference in Kenya, panelists discussed various aspects of iGaming that are being implemented in Europe and the rest of the world and how African operators can learn and benefit from these already tried and tested methods.

Opening the discussion with the topic title in question Paris Anatolitis, CEO of states that knowing your target audience’s preferences is essential to tailor your service. Anatolitis goes on to say that “one of the lessons we can apply is that no market is the same. Recognising the differences in the culture, and in the market, and also identifying market plans is important.

Regulation in Africa

The legislative landscape on the continent is currently somewhat diverse. There is little regulation when it comes to online gaming and betting. As a result, global iGaming companies have been operating across the continent although ambiguity has arisen in nations where regional authorities seek to impose and implement laws that are not recognised at the federal level.

Jerome-O Falcon, CEO of says “We don’t have to be afraid of the regulation. I’ve been involved in French regulation for a very long time. As soon as the market was regulated we definitely witnessed a big boom in iGaming.”

Having an established regulatory system allows operators to freely offer services and localised ad campaigns on the market.

What is the future of blockchain in Africa looking like?

Africa’s blockchain ecosystem is expanding as cryptocurrency adoption continues to climb. Maksim Afanasev, Co-CEO of PulseBet comments on this saying that Africa has been impressive in acting extremely quickly when compared to other countries.

“Africa is doing extremely well in looking into what other countries and regulations are doing and applying this knowledge, I would not be surprised if a blockchain boom takes place here as it’s adopting smart concepts really quickly.”

Marketing in Africa

Customer interaction is essential for increasing lead conversion and the first step is to develop an excellent digital marketing plan. Paris Anatolitis, CEO of Moja Group says that “In Europe regulation surrounding marketing in iGaming is a lot more strict as there are a lot of marketing restrictions and guidelines which in African markets haven’t been applied yet.”

One of the best marketing strategies in Africa is affiliation and local media.

Responsible Gaming

The importance of responsible gaming was also debated in Africa.

Responsible gaming in Europe is being enforced by regulators while in Africa this enforcement is not happening to the same extent. The African continent currently lacks a significant number of responsible gaming tools and relies primarily on tools implemented at the operator level. “For Responsible Gaming to be applied and applied well at this stage it has to be coming from the roots and culture of its operators,” says Afanasev.

“Operators should have the responsibility of taking money from people who can afford to lose money and this has to start from the culture of the owners and executive team.”

“African countries need also to tackle the concept of KYC to avoid underage gamblers. “Most of the operators in Kenya do not have this in place yet. Operators don’t need money from these gamblers, the business is not getting much from those stakes even though the volume is high there is no benefit for the operators,” Afanasev says.

Moderator John Kamau Kungu, Co-founder of Betconsult Africa stresses the fact that “Opting them out of a website is not enough as they will simply go to the next website. There should be a fixed regulatory approach to get these gamblers off websites permanently.”

View our conference agenda for more information on panels and keynotes that took place over the two-day conference.