Eyes on the prize in Africa
Africa is widely seen as the online gambling industry’s next great frontier, but the continent is by no means new to the sector. Unlike more recently emerged markets like Brazil and other parts of Latin America, legal gambling is not new to Africa. Early entrants such as Super Group’s Betway have participated in the region since the early 2000s.
Therefore, as demand and interest in Africa grows, a number of legacy brands, which laid the foundations in the continent’s four core markets, are already reaping significant returns from a largely young and male population who in recent years have gained much better access to cellular internet.
Early winners have emerged among both operators and countries, where pragmatic regulation and legacy land-based gaming have propelled them to the forefront in terms of market share and overall market size.
Today, the biggest online market on the continent is South Africa. By H2 Gambling Capital numbers, the market’s gross win across 2025 topped $5.2 billion (£3.9 billion), making it almost five times the size of Africa’s second largest gambling region, Nigeria ($1.6 billion 2025 gross win). Online accounted for 63% of that overall gross win at $3.26 billion.
South Africa sits behind Romania
South Africa is H2’s 22nd biggest global market by revenue, sitting just behind Romania’s $5.56 billion 2025 gross win on the global leaderboard. This growth trajectory is expected to continue, with H2 estimating the online market will near $5.9 billion by the end of 2030.
The opportunity for operators is clear, but as Peter Kesitilwe, CEO for continent-wide trade body the African iGaming Alliance (AIA) observes, Africa comes with serious challenges, despite its rapidly growing digital entertainment economy.
“What I would see as the biggest risk to the African market is not regulation,” Kesitilwe tells iGB. “The issue is the policymakers, [as] they are now coming up with a lot of over-regulation that drives consumers offshore.”
The AIA, established in 2025, aims to enhance cooperation across Africa between regulators and operators, tackling the sector’s biggest issues, including the growing black market and problem gambling.
Olabimpe Akingba, AIA board member and head of responsible gaming at sportsbook tech company pawaTech (operating betPawa), points to rising taxes as a key driver of increased black-market activity across Africa, with withholding taxes for players becoming a common theme across the continent.
She believes these are especially damaging for licensed offerings. “One of the taxes that really drives people to the black market is those levied on the customers, because those are especially hard to enforce on black market operators. With taxes, we are really driving players out to the black market as the market becomes unfair to licensed operators.”
“You’ll find that regulators in South Africa can block illegal operators, but then another regulator in Tanzania doesn’t have such tools. So if they were to cooperate, these are some of the things that one would adapt to their markets,” Kesitilwe explains.
South Africa remains king
South Africa’s competitive environment will likely continue to heat up, but by today’s metrics Super Group’s Betway Africa and HollywoodBets are battling for the top spot in terms of online market share. It is “by far” the biggest of Super Group’s eight African markets, according to group CFO Alinda van Wyk. Betway Africa entered the continent in 2006, securing South Africa as one of its initial markets alongside Ghana.
The operator’s African revenue hit $267 million in Q1, up 33% from the same quarter of last year. In South Africa, it has leveraged long-standing partnerships with Premier League clubs Manchester City and Arsenal via its UK brand.
Super Group’s competitive edge in Africa
Van Wyk believes sponsorship has given the Betway brand a competitive edge in South Africa as football accounts for 94% of its revenue on the continent. “We associated football with Betway [through] all these magnificent sponsorships,” Van Wyk says. “People who watch the football in the UK will see the Betway brand, [and] they will also see it in Ghana [and South Africa].
“Isn’t that an amazing way of getting brand equity? With that combination of brand equity, first entry in markets, as well as a good relationship with the regulatory authorities, it gave us that competitive edge. And we became, in the words of Neal [Menashe, Super Group CEO], the ‘giants of Africa’ because of that Pan-African aspect.”
Van Wyk insists Africa is “in our DNA”. In recent years the group has pulled back from underperforming markets across the US and Europe, instead putting its energy into African growth.
Other operators are seeking to replicate the model, taking the brand awareness built in the UK and Europe, and using it to take their first steps into the continent. Virgin Bet, for instance, launched its online offering in South Africa in March, marking its first market outside the UK. Virgin Bet is operated by LiveScore Group, which had existing betting operations in Nigeria. According to Gail Odgers, Virgin Bet South Africa general manager, the company chose South Africa as its first non-UK market due to the already strong brand recognition of Virgin in the country.
Like a Virgin [Bet]
“Our intention when entering the South African market really was to see which of our brands would be the best fit for South Africa,” Odgers shares. “That inbuilt trust and recognition that we get from the Virgin brand is something that sort of piqued our interest.
“We also have an existing operational footprint in South Africa and local market familiarity. And at the same time, I think South Africa is a well-established market with quite a clear regulatory framework as well. So as a group we really wanted to enter into South Africa, just knowing that we’ve got the regulatory support that we require to execute on a high level.”
Virgin Bet was introduced in the UK by Gamesys in 2019, via a partnership with betting platform SBTech. LiveScore Group was then spun off from Gamesys in 2019. Its other brands include LiveScore Bet and LiveScore Media. On entering South Africa, Odgers emphasises the importance of localisation, a key learning from LiveScore’s previous launch in Nigeria.
“There’s a big job to be done to localise it so that the South African audience feels this isn’t just a copy and paste of the UK experience,” Odgers continues. “I think also just staying adaptable to your operating models in general, making sure that again, we’re not copy and pasting from a different market into an African territory because the nuances are so specific on the continent.”
Fragmentation
As hinted at by the AIA’s Kesitilwe, regulatory fragmentation in the country, caused by nine provincial regulators requiring their own separate rules, has hindered growth. Although national legislation establishes the broader regulatory framework, matters such as licensing and enforcement are managed at a provincial level.
But while this is often portrayed as a challenge for operators, South Africa’s National Gambling Board’s CEO Lungile Dukwana reframes it as an advantage over other African markets.
“In most of the jurisdictions in Africa, their point of reference in terms of gambling and other economic models is often South Africa,” Dukwana says. “In South Africa, we have one law that is regulating [gambling] called the National Gambling Act of 2004.
“It means that when the provincial licensing authorities develop their own legislation, it should be in line with that [national] legislation. Our task is to make sure that the implementation of their own laws is actually in line with the national legislation.”
The key is collaboration between the nine provinces. Dukwana continues: “The function [of the national legislation] is actually a concurrent one in the sense that they are licensing and we are overseeing. So from time to time, we engage.”
Huge opportunity in Nigeria
Next on the geographical leaderboard in Africa is Nigeria, which reported a 2025 gross win of close to $1.6 billion, according to H2 Gambling Capital. Its growth is boosted by a young population, with over a million youths turning 18, the legal gambling age, every year.
It’s another market in which Super Group is heavily invested, although the group’s Betway brand does not hold a podium position in Nigeria. But Super Group has vowed to change that, and Van Wyk insists the company is “making good steps” towards a top-three position by market share. CEO Neal Menashe recently spent time with Betway’s team in Nigeria, he told analysts during the group’s Q1 earnings call earlier in the year.
“The most important thing for us is product first. We’re very proud of a localised product,” says Van Wyk. “Nigeria also has an interesting setup with kiosks, little shops on the street [where you can bet], and we haven’t really integrated into that kind of product offering. So we are changing our process to maybe address that kind of requirement in Nigeria.”
Despite its huge potential, Nigeria has been divided by conflict, with tensions between federal and state regulators continuing to rumble. The hostility reached a head in 2024, when the Supreme Court ruled the National Lottery Act governing legislation had become void, and state regulators had the right to regulate lottery and games of chance independently of the federal government.
In December last year, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rejected the subsequent Central Gaming Bill, a similarly federal gambling measure which sought to centralise regulation under a national commission.
Tension easing
Akingba believes there is potential for stability in Nigeria, with the “power tussle” having been put to rest. The question now is whether states can align on regulation. Bashir Are, CEO of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LSLGA), also serves as the chairman of the Federation of State Gaming Regulators in Nigeria, which allows operators to operate in a number of states through a single licence.
For Are, with the regulatory tension seemingly easing, the threat of illegal gambling is now his and the LSLGA’s biggest priority. Collaboration with fellow regulators is proving a useful tool, Are says. “It is significant because it’s difficult to chase an illegal operator that is operating outside of your jurisdiction. So we’re cooperating with other partners and other regulators outside of Nigeria so that we can conduct joint enforcement.”
Are believes the LSLGA’s regulations provide lessons for other African and Nigerian regulators, adding: “You have to have a policy that attracts business, you have to support the business, and you have to be fair in your taxes and your regulation.
“These are businesses that need to develop, that need to make money, and you don’t strangulate them before they mature. So those are important matters that every regulator should have in mind.”
Kenya nails product functionality
Odgers believes that, from a mobile perspective, Africa is broadly ahead of other more mature global gambling regions, as products on the continent are so easy to use, especially in East Africa. And nowhere is this more evident than Kenya, where payments provider M-Pesa accounts for around 90% of the nation’s mobile money market.
H2 Gambling Capital Managing Director Ed Birkin says that M-Pesa only allows licensed operators to use its services, estimating it is utilised for between 70% and 90% of Kenya’s online betting and gaming payments. This is a key channelisation tool for leading operators in the market such as Betika. “It’s very hard for illegal operators to compete against huge, really popular domestic ones that just make it so easy for people [to bet],” he says.
John Mutua, CEO of the Association of Gaming Operators Kenya, argues that Kenya’s betting growth cannot be understood without appreciating the role mobile money has played in removing payment frictions for bettors. “M-Pesa solved a payments problem that most of the developed world solved through bank accounts and cards – but M-Pesa solved it faster, and it solved it for a much wider population,” he says.
Despite those advantages, Kenya’s market has faced some regulatory instability. Taxes have been altered on several occasions, while the regulator last year banned all advertising for 30 days due to compliance failures from operators. However, Kenya’s market is now operating under the Gambling Control Act 2025, with the market overseen by the new Gambling Regulatory Authority, which replaced the former Betting Control and Licensing Board.
Regulatory instability
Online gambling is now formally regulated under a new three-year licensing structure. Mutua says the new framework represents a “fundamental shift” in how operators will do business.
“The Gambling Control Act 2025 brings a dedicated authority, defined licensing categories, and – most importantly – a framework equipped to address both current and emerging issues within the sector,” Mutua declares. “It is the kind of structural foundation this industry has long needed.”
Kesitilwe also believes the market has taken a step in the right direction, adding: “You’ll find that it introduces clear oversight structures, an appeals mechanism, stronger responsible gaming obligations and clearer online provisions.”
Again, collaboration is required between regulatory bodies to strengthen gambling systems, Akingba insists. “Collaboration is the only way forward for us as an industry, where we all have a say in the policies that we are drafting,” he explains. “We know that the operators always have the hands-on experience. The policymakers are the experienced ones in drafting the law. But when we come together, what we are going to have is something that is workable for all parties.”
This stabilisation in Kenya has also caught the attention of Super Group, with Van Wyk hinting at the country being a potential expansion opportunity. “They’ve reverted to much more of a setup of taxes that benefits not only the operators and the revenue authorities, but also protects the customers to some extent,” Van Wyk says.
“It gives us the ability to say, ‘OK, now things are stabilised, we see a path to profitability, and we will try Kenya again’. So it’s definitely on the roadmap.”
The stability-led rise of Ghana
The African gambling sector is often defined by the perceived ‘Big Three’ markets of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. But Ghana appears to be closing the gap, ranking within Super Group’s top three African regions.
“Ghana has developed a reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable and maybe commercially attractive markets,” Kesitilwe says. “It is trying to improve its regulatory maturity. The other key thing is political stability because policymakers are the ones attracting investors. So many operators now see Ghana as an important strategic growth market within the region.”
When launching its hugely popular Betano betting brand in Ghana in February, Kaizen Gaming touted the West African market’s long-term growth potential, which is underpinned by strong digital adoption and a forward-looking regulatory framework. The market’s online gross win hit $903.5 million in 2025, H2 Gambling Capital data shows.
While challenges remain, the combined 2025 gross win across Africa’s four most prominent markets places them alongside the Netherlands, Taiwan and Mexico on the global gambling leaderboard, by revenue.
The increasing stability of regulation and greater collaboration between stakeholders are further enhancing the attractiveness of these markets. From an operational perspective, localisation remains the key buzzword, with Africa’s cultural diversity requiring a nuanced approach.
As Odgers puts it, Africa isn’t a continent where a “copy and paste” strategy will work. But for those operators that do get it right, the rewards could be enormous, with Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economies offering one of the gambling industry’s most compelling long-term growth opportunities.