INSIGHT
some types of games. Virtual sports,
for example, have proven popular with
sports-mad African punters but the
bandwidth and streaming requirements
of virtual games have meant they are
not easily accessible on mobile devices.
Hence they remain largely limited to
the retail environment.
Unfortunately, says Beuthin,
this type of problem is something
developers often struggle to
comprehend. “Africa is still very ‘third-
world’ in a sense, and a lot of game
developers don’t understand that. They
are developing for the first world, they
are developing for Europe. They have
to change their product for Africa and
adapt it.”
This is particularly true when
considering many people in Africa
are also using much older phones
and operating systems than would be
found in more developed parts of the
world. When combined with the fact
that most African countries have vastly
different payment systems to developed
countries, this means localising
offerings to take all these factors into
account is key to success for operators.
For example, Canny says Betway
and SportPesa have thrived in Kenya
due to the fact they latched onto local
market trends. “They were very quick
to capitalise on M-Pesa, the mobile
money system out there, which makes
it very easy for people to transact using
just their phones.
“Also, Europeans might see things
like USSD and SMS as primitive
technologies but they have really
innovated in the space and used older
technologies in a smart way to get to
a market that doesn’t necessarily have
smartphones or online banking.”
According to Ramnani, SMS is
also an important marketing tool,
along with utilising the opportunities
provided by retail outlets. “Having a
“Online casino is
going to be the
next revolution”
John Kamara, director, Global Gaming Africa
retail presence does strengthen you on
the street, as you have that outdoor
branding,” he says.
Dhrupal Amin, managing director
at G-Bets, which operates in South
Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique and
Tanzania, says businesses need to
remember that there can be wild
variations between what works in
one country and another. Thus,
operators adopting a pan-African
strategy must be prepared to adapt
their marketing strategies accordingly.
“South Africa has a lot of what you’d
expect in Europe, where you can do
multichannel marketing. In a place like
Mozambique, where we are currently
marketing across major channels – we
are