[Transcript] #31: African Sports betting & gambling tech - The rise & expansion of betting services across Africa
Recorded Jun 13, 2021
Hello!
It’s been almost 2 years since we first talked about sports betting on Afrobility. So much has happened since then. The industry continues to attract new investment and players, but the returns have been mixed.
Building off its investment in BetKing, Multichoice launched SupersportBET in South Africa with a bang. They sponsor two of South Africa’s largest soccer clubs: Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, and they have supported this with what feels like an overwhelming ads campaign. This makes sense for Multichoice. The company is struggling and has already marked down a third of its investment in BetKing. Investors are impatient for returns, and Canal+ is circling.
The African betting scene is crowded, and competitors are unfazed by Multichoice’s distribution advantage. 888Bet launched in 4 new countries, and it seems you can add “Bet” to any term and you will end up with an active betting business somewhere in Africa (“LulaBet” “SportyBet”, “1xBet” etc). Customers have multiple options each time to place a bet, and many shop around for the best deal.
Regulators have struggled to keep up. While it is true that these businesses generate revenue and employment, they can also lead to addiction and other undesirable social outcomes. Since 2019, Kenya has bounced around different tax rates for betting companies, but this hasn’t slowed the industry’s expansion: The share of Kenyan adults that gamble in Kenya has increased from 1.9% to 13.9% from 2019 to 2021. The Kenyan treasury is raking it in.
Sports betting is here to stay, and it’s up to Africans to shape its future.
You can listen to the episode here. Paid subscribers can access the transcript below.
Have a great week,
Bankole.
[00:00:00] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Welcome to Afrobility, a conversation about African business and technology. Today, we're going to talk about sports betting and gambling tech in Africa. We'll share some context about betting in developed and emerging markets. We'll analyze betting tech startups across Africa and end with our overall outlook.
[00:00:19] Olumide Ogunsanwo: This episode was recorded on June 13, 2021. Bankole Gambino, what up? Bankole
[00:00:25] Bankole Makanju: Gambino, okay, that's good. That's good. I don't like that one as much. It's not as good as the other ones, but
[00:00:29] Olumide Ogunsanwo: it's good enough. Honestly, I have no idea what it
[00:00:31] Bankole Makanju: means. I'm great, summer is in full swing, life is good, planning trips, taking flights.
[00:00:56] Bankole Makanju: We're talking about betting, gambling, staking, sports betting, casino games. I feel like this is one of the industries that is growing a lot, spending a lot of money. And, but, almost under the radar, at least for myself and Olumide, so we thought we'd do an episode on it. I'll
[00:01:13] Olumide Ogunsanwo: use the terms gambling and betting interchangeably.