Africa’s fintech revolution driving the growth of online gambling

The genesis of Africa’s Fintech revolution was mobile money. Its appeal and quick adoption, initially in Kenya and now, in over 30 African countries, has primarily been due to its democratization of financial service.

With over 66% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa lacking access to traditional bank accounts, mobile money has bridged the financial inclusion gap. Bringing commercial service closer to the rural majority who do not need a bank account to transfer money, save, borrow or even pay for goods and services. This runaway success from Kenya that has now spread to every African market has enabled businesses, gambling firms, bettors to connect outside the context of traditional banking methods. 46% of global mobile money accounts are in Africa. These translate to approximately 395.7 million accounts out of a worldwide total of 866 million.

Fintech Driving the Growth of online Gambling

The Fintech revolution has increased the growth of online betting participants through mobile money while the growth in mobile money service has created new opportunities for merchants to sell their products and services. The fast-growing sports betting sector which has taken several African countries by storm, in which the internet penetration coupled with a significant increase of mobile device user, has further spurred the growth of online betting. Punters now have easy access to online sports betting service even in slum areas through mobile money service to fund their online betting account.

For instance, countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania see a massive expansion in sports betting and other forms of gambling in the region. Thanks, to the revolution in fintech service, which has created opportunities for several online sportsbook brands. In which the majority target countries in the area. For example, international brands like Betway, 1Xbet now target as many countries as possible in Africa through their numerous available payment options. For Bettors to access from different Africa regions, now have access to deposit and withdraw through their innumerable varieties of mobile payment services.

Such as Mpesa, for East Africa, MTN mobile money, Airtel Money, Wallettec among others it was even reported in 2019, that 7% of M-Pesa revenue accounted for betting. However, one of the most exciting parts is betting on major European soccer leagues, as well as local and national teams, has become a mainstream culture in Africa. Which as turned the sector into a multinational dollar industry, much of this could be said apart from the fintech revolution sector another critical influence to the industry is the telecoms and e-commerce sector.

In contrast, mobile payment is an essential part of the online gaming space. The need for the cashless method of making the payment has also driven innovation in African payment space to compete with the rest of the world. Perhaps the exponential growth of online betting in recent years in the region is attributed to the comfort, flexibility attached to the revolution of financial service through mobile also the ability to capture the unbanked people in Africa.