Mobile phone penetration made gambling viable in Africa

The mobile phone has been the talking point over two decades now particularly in Africa where it has transformed all sectors of business in Africa especially the gambling sector, where the numbers of punters keep growing on daily basis.

Thanks to mobile phone penetrations which reach a staggering 5.1 billion people across the world owned a mobile device but still device with subscription, and it estimated that by 2025 this number would grow to 5.8 billion. A 4 per cent growth rate by 2025 according to GSMA that may not seem much like the cut-off but if this prediction actualizes, 700 million that did not have access to mobile devices in 2018 would gain access by 2025. At the same time, the quickest in mobile phone penetration in the world is coming from Africa, followed by Latin America, to the Middle East and the Asia pacific.

In these regions, basic mobile technology is becoming increasingly accessible to the masses particularly in Africa. though this growth is not only because of technological development that occurred or structural changes that took place but also the phenomenon that has been referred to as “leap frogging” just like the case of M-pesa in sub-saharan Africa where not long ago they did not have traditional telephones landlines. Once most people had cellular phones, they leapfrog d that whole landline stage. In these regions, necessary mobile technology is becoming increasingly accessible to the masses, particularly in Africa.

Mobile penetration is not only because of technological development that occurred or structural changes that took place in Africa. But also the phenomenon that has referred to as “leapfrogging” just like the case of M-Pesa in sub-Saharan Africa where not long ago they did not have traditional telephones landlines. Once most people had cellular phones, they leapfrog that whole landline stage. In essence, Africa that was low-tech 10-20 years ago are adopting mobile telecommunications technology today by purchasing low-cost mobile phones. These mobile phones are only affordable options today due to years of technological developments in regions like China and North America. Years of product development and research took the technology from expensive, bulky desktop computers to advanced handheld mobile devices.

During that time, simple mobile phone devices became exponentially cheaper to produce, distribute and use without structure for wired technology. Today population in Africa have been able to leapfrog over the process of developing wired telephone networks and instead move toward an era of digital inclusion by purchasing rather affordable phones and at the same time thanks to the competitive mobile market in Africa.

Today Africa is still stabilizing after economic struggles that have inhibited strong GDP growth in the past few years. Despite a temporary interval of quiet in GDP growth, the digital exodus to mobile phone ownership has surged. The increase in digital space is significantly exceeding GDP growth. As for the hard numbers, it has predicted that the number of unique mobile subscribers will rise from the 641 million as seen in 2018 to 871 million by the close 2025, which is a 6 per cent increase according to GSMA.

Today the gambling industry recorded vast numbers of mobile-centric players according to recent research conducted by Geopoll and Hootsuite, and we are social, in 5 major African countries including. South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda the numbers state Kenyans has a total of 75% unique mobile phone bettors in Africa followed by Nigeria stood at 70% and South Africa 65% and Tanzania, which stood at 55% and Uganda at 50%. Gambling is growing in Africa; we can say thanks to the mobile phone penetration in the region.

Article by Adeleye Awakan to know more about the African gaming industry please feel free to contact me on any of this channels: E-mail: [email protected] on Linkedin: Adeleye Awakan, Twitter: @AdeleyeAwakan , Instgram: adeleyeawakan.

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