Africa First Choice For iGaming Investment Opportunities

The continent is relatively underdeveloped; the iGaming industry in Africa is developing exponentially, making it one of the fastest iGaming sectors globally. Many involved in the industry would be happy to tell you the developing iGaming industry is just another way to say these tremendous opportunities make the region the first choice for an investment opportunity for a potential investor.

Indeed, there are clear signs that the African part is full of pent-up demand for iGaming entrepreneurs, thanks to the mobile market competitive landscape and internet penetration. However, over the years, they have been some significant shake-ups of amendments of existing gambling laws and new iGaming legislation and regulation in some African countries. These could be attributed to the increasing numbers of betting firms establishing their operations in Africa. Although in the next five years, the iGaming industry expected to evolve beyond the imagination of stakeholders in the industry, even though the Africa iGaming market reached $1.15bn in 2019, it is attributed to investment in digital infrastructure and ongoing Africa digital economy initiative that has taken off exponentially and expected to contribute $180 billion to Africa GDP, meaning digital enablement in the economic sectors.

A recent report released by Google and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) succinctly estimates that the Africa internet economy can reach 5.2% of the continent’s GDP by 2025, contributing nearly $180 billion to its economy. The report further projected that the potential contribution could reach $712 billion by 2050. This projection will positively impact the iGaming sphere. The region is experiencing rapid population growth and urbanization. The growing urban and mobile population has created tremendous potential for the African economy. The iGaming industry has benefited from this mobile growth; it is experiencing a surge in mobile betting in recent years, which 40% of Africa’s iGaming betting and gambling is carried out through the mobile-first strategy adopted by suppliers.

By 2025 45 percent will be in cities, internet penetration is 40% today and a 10% increase in mobile of which the numbers of people with internet access has grown to 5222.8 million and over the next decade, numbers of internet users in Africa will grow by 11% comprising 16% of the total global amount. The ongoing investment in subsea and terrestrial infrastructure will enable increased access to more affordable and higher-speed internet, which is pivotal to the iGaming industry has made the region the first market for investment opportunities; ongoing digital infrastructure is the backbone of the internet economy around the globe, and Africa international internet bandwidth has increased by a factor of 10 over the past decade to reach 12 terabits per seconds (Tbsps) positioned it has been investors from the different sector have spotted the region as the go-to-market for business. Private firms in the technology sector improve African connectivity by expanding their undersea cable networks is another potential making region stand out. The projected is pilot by Google’s new submarine cable, Equiano, expected to be completed in 2022, connecting Portugal and South Africa and part of Lagos, Nigeria.

The line is expected to have 20x the last cable’s capacity to serve the region, allowing for more latency-sensitive products to function and developed. As a mentioned mobile-first strategy, the new norm for the African people couple with fintech space, i.e., (mobile money) in rural and remote areas, as helped bridge the unbanked African population gap making the continent home of mobile money accounts estimated to reach 500 million by the end of 2020. This development not just contributed to the African economy to the tune of $14 billion but has helped the business to capture those in rural and remote areas to benefit from the service and the iGaming industry is one sector that has benefited over the years by 2100, one in three people on the planet will live in Africa.

The mobile-first strategy the new norm would see the number of unique mobile subscribers will rise from 641 million, as seen in 2018, to 871 million by close to 2025, which is a 6 percent increase, according to GSMA. It is projected across the region, a new set of digital natives’ generation of 44 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population, equivalent to just over 450 million people, will own a mobile phone by 2025. As mentioned, internet connectivity is growing at a swift pace both in rural and remote areas.

The inevitable 5G network that is set to launch for commercial use in Africa by 2021 will open numerous economic and business opportunities for the iGaming firms ready to take advantage of tech momentum, and all these attributes are positioning the region as the first choice for iGaming investment.

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