The use of mobile phones varies greatly among Africa’s 54 countries. Mobile phones have become indispensable in our daily lives. Almost a decade ago, the continent had around 300,000 phone lines.
The massive young African population is now going digital, with mobile penetration propelling the massive young African population to go mobile-first, the new norm for the average African to carry out daily activities online, including social media, mobile money, mobile betting, and information access. While it is utilized to vote, it is used for all other activities. It is not only a gadget for African, but it is part of their everyday activities to carry out any work online.
The competitive mobile market coupled with internet penetration has propelled digitalization in Africa with the average population using their mobile device as a tool to access all platforms and the gambling industry is no exception.
To give customers a great experience accessing gaming platforms,
bookmakers have no choice but to consolidate to a mobile-centric platforms, which has been pivotal to the growth of gambling business in Africa, making the continent a hotspot for global foreign investors and entrepreneurs to see the region as untapped gaming and betting markets thanks to its advantage in youth population and infrastructure mobile broadband service available.
Due to the rising digital illiteracy of Africans, there is a growing desire for more accessible access to internet platforms. As previously said, the mobile-first new standard for Africans to obtain information and conduct everyday tasks is part of their daily lives across all industries, from payments to mobile betting.
The growing growth of mobile devices in the area has affected businesses,
and the iGaming market is no exception. During the Covid-19 lockout, players switched to online gaming using mobile phones, and consumer behavior has changed as well. A few years later, in Africa, you would see the scale of crowd betting with people waiting up in stores. However, as more African countries adopt digital transformation and affordable internet service, while bookmakers also follow the trend by offering lighter platforms, the number of bettors who prefer to wager on betting through their mobile device keeps increasing daily, even though retail betting is still popular.
One example of how mobile betting has evolved is worrying. According to a Geopoll study, mobile betting in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa is growing at a daily pace. Geopoll found that 88 percent of Kenyan gamblers and 64 percent of bettors use cellphones as a typical medium for gambling, whereas just 60.2% of Nigerians do. Among the three nations, South Africa has the lowest mobile phone betting.
However, South Africa has the highest internet penetration and the region’s highest gaming revenue. As previously said, the competitive mobile market scenario made mobile phones accessible, contributing to the exponential expansion of the betting business and pushing digitization beyond all industries in Africa.
