What works in Africa: The features global platforms overlook

What works, and what should be avoided, when deploying platform tech in Africa? Commonalities exist, but risk homogenising Africa at your own peril, experts warn.

Africa is frequently touted as the biggest emerging opportunity in iGaming, and it is easy to see why with its young and rapidly expanding population.

Gambling participation rates across the continent of Africa are high, at least by international standards. Betting is widely normalised across adult populations in key markets like Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria – markets where bettor engagement is treated as mainstream consumer behaviour rather than niche entertainment.

However, whether out of ease or ignorance, Africa is often referred to as one market – a grouping that is well wide of the mark and may come with hidden costs. When an entire continent is homogenised into one, much-hyped ‘growth opportunity’, nuance is invariably lost.

Aside from it being structurally unique and largely shaped by demographics and mobile penetration, entrenched behavioural habits in each African market differ from established counterparts across the world.

These factors make tailored platform technology design essential to success in African markets, a range of regional industry experts tell iGB. They collectively warned that treating the continent with an ‘off-the-shelf’ approach is a barrier to successful deployment as operators scramble to deploy in unfamiliar territory.

What makes Africa different?

Gauteng-based Annalisa Emelia, the Africa sales manager for game supplier SYNOT Games, argues many platforms attempting to approach Africa need to rethink their strategy.

She notes that Africa is a collection of very different ecosystems, with each market having its own player behaviour, regulatory framework, payment infrastructure, and of course expectations. She stresses that while the fundamentals — a young population, increasing mobile access, and a clear appetite for betting and gaming products – remains strong, treating the region as one market can scupper chances of real success.

“To understand this properly, you only need to compare three key markets: South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. South Africa is one of the most mature and regulated markets on the continent. Players expect a structured, reliable experience with strong sportsbook functionality and a growing appetite for casino-style content. The regulatory framework shapes how this content is delivered,” Emelia tells iGB.

“Nigeria operates very differently. It is a high-frequency, low-stake market where football dominates. Kenya is one of the most mobile-native betting markets globally. The entire ecosystem is built around mobile money. Betting behaviour is fast, often conducted in short sessions, with a strong focus on in-play and micro-betting.

“So the reality is that there isn’t a single product or platform approach that works across Africa. If your platform strategy does not reflect these things from the outset, you will struggle to gain traction regardless of how successful you’ve been elsewhere.”

Africa certainly has its nuances. One of the most interesting is the extent to which social dynamics amplify engagement.

Betting decisions are heavily influenced by peer networks, community groups and informal tipster ecosystems across digital platforms, creating a highly networked and sentiment-driven acquisition and retention loop. This must be taken into account when building technology for the market.

Former Betway Africa Group Director Jon Russell further reinforces this point, maintaining that generic, plug-and-play strategies do not produce the best results. Russell, who served at Betway for over ten years, spearheaded the launch of the very first corporate spread betting operation in Africa, Superspreads, back in 1997.

“What my experience in Africa has taught me, and what the subsequent decades went on to confirm, is that the African bettor has a fundamentally different profile to the European or North American customer,” he stressed.

“This is a market that gravitates toward jackpot products, high-leg accumulators, and transformative payout structures rather than the price-sensitive, value-seeking behaviour that characterises mature European markets. Gross margins in the high twenties to thirty percent are commercially achievable and reflect genuine customer preference rather than operator exploitation.

“So most UK and US operators who enter African markets expecting European margin profiles find themselves structurally misaligned with what the customer actually wants.”

Seasoned industry professional Felix Mulandi, who serves as the head of brand and marketing at Kenya-facing operator Pakakumi, echoed the sentiment of Emelia and Russell, weighing in with the discrepancies in user engagement and market divergence across the key regions of the continent.

“Supported by stronger banking infrastructure and more established formal operators, participation rates in South Africa are as high as 83–90% and a more diversified betting mix that extends beyond football into horse racing, rugby and higher-value wagering.

“If you contrast it with East Africa, particularly Kenya which represents the archetypal mobile-native betting market, 80–85% of activity is sports betting, heavily enabled by M-Pesa, and characterised by micro-stakes, jackpots and high-frequency real-time engagement.

“West Africa, especially Nigeria, operates as a different scale-driven ecosystem. While participation is slightly lower at around 71%, the absolute volume is substantial. Behaviour is more economically aspirational, with a strong preference for high-odds accumulator bets, aggressive bonus usage, and continued relevance of retail betting shops alongside digital channels.”

One size doesn’t fit all

Most iGaming platforms started their lives designed typically for European or other similarly mature markets. Technically they look strong when deployed, but usability in Africa is a different story. For Emelia, these global platforms can work only if they can improve on flexibility.

“Too often, localisation is treated as a front-end exercise; adjusting language, currency or branding while the underlying platform remains unchanged. In Africa, localisation goes much deeper. It impacts many things like payments, connectivity, speed, product structuring, compliance, marketing. If your platform cannot adapt to these factors, it will not perform.”

Mulandi, who has garnered over 14 years of continental industry experience including working as operations manager at 22bet, and marketing manager at Sportygroup across several African markets, shares the same opinion.

“The biggest mistake global operators make in Africa is assuming the continent can be served with a ‘lift-and-shift’ model deploying a proven European platform with minimal localisation.” he says.

“For example, failing to integrate mobile money like M-Pesa, Airtel Money at the core, not as an add-on, or designing UX for desktop-first journeys, immediately creates friction in markets like Kenya or Ghana.

“Similarly, global platforms often over-index on casino, while in most African market sports, football particularly drives more than 60% of engagement, making a weak sportsbook a critical flaw.”

Emelia went on to stress the importance of seamless payments. “In Africa, payments are not just part of the user journey — they are central to it. If deposits are difficult or withdrawals are delayed, trust is lost immediately.”