Africa is a sports-mad continent. Football is by far the most popular — African national teams have traditionally put in a great showing at the World Cup (Morocco became the first African team to reach the semis at the Qatar World Cup last time out), the top leagues of Europe are full of African players, and the sport is played widely at a grassroots level. But sport in Africa doesn’t begin and end with football. Different regions favour different games — Southern Africa has a rich tradition in both cricket and rugby union, for example, and the continent has a strong history of medal success at the Olympics.
Coupled with increased mobile penetration and infrastructure across the continent means that Africans are using sports betting websites and apps to wager on their favourite sports and teams, making it one of the largest emerging economies in global online gambling. Let’s look at some resources and preferences in African online betting.
A Fast Growing Market
Online gambling, both in casinos and sports books, has seen a worldwide explosion in the last twenty years, boosted by ever-more affordable and powerful mobile devices, and apps that reflect that by making use of advanced emerging technology. Africa has been identified as one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, with online gambling set to reach a revenue of US$1.85bn in 2024, with almost half that total coming from sports betting.
Even better, steady annual growth is predicted, which could see the industry being worth close to $3bn in 2028, with $1.8bn of that forecast to be brought in by Africans placing bets. This is all very promising, and given the ever-growing online gambling market in all other regions, seems likely to bring about positive changes for the continent, especially those whose governments take revenue from the industry.
Big Potential
All this growth has greatly expanded the interest sports betting companies are taking in investment in African operations. South Africa and Nigeria have had strong online gambling sectors for some time, and South Africa is by far the biggest market on the continent due to the relatively high levels of disposable income among the population. But the rest of Africa is becoming increasingly engaged with online sports betting, and this is due to a variety of factors.
It’s probably worth mentioning the huge changes in mobile penetration and infrastructure in Africa. Areas that previously didn’t have landlines now receive 4G coverage and have greater access to telecommunications and the internet than ever before. The infrastructure continues to grow across Sub-Saharan Africa, and the cost of mobile devices, able to handle cutting-edge games, is constantly falling.
The population of the continent is very young, with 60% of Africans under the age of 25. That means an engaged, tech-savvy population, who have access to high-speed internet and smartphones. There are now great, dedicated online sites to help Africans find out about sports betting operators and consult local in-depth resources. The market is fertile for online gaming overall, not to mention iGaming and sports betting.
Popular Sports in Africa
Africans have excelled in elite sports, and different games are played in schools and at grass-roots levels continent-wide. Fans are fiercely partisan, passionate, dedicated, and happy to wager on their favourite sports. Here are some of the top sports in Africa.
Football
African football goes from strength to strength — a glance at the list of favourites for the upcoming African Cup of Nations features at least five sides bookies have in the running for the title. They’ve also had a strong showing at the World Cup, with Morocco becoming the first team to reach the last four in history, losing out to France in the semi-finals.
Many top footballers have come from Africa to play in La Ligue, Serie A, La Liga, the Premier League, and the Bundesliga, such as Sadio Mané, Didier Drogba, Mohamad Salah, and George Weah, who is also the outgoing President of Liberia.
Cricket
South African cricket has had its ups and downs over the years, but they’ve been top of the International Test Rankings on a couple of occasions, and been agonisingly close to winning the World Cup numerous times. AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, and Graeme Smith rank among the greatest test players of modern times.
Zimbabwean cricket is emerging from a dark time, with some positive administrative changes, and heartening performances against top teams. Kenya, while not as successful as the others, often put on a strong showing in the ICC World Cup against top opposition. Cricket is enjoyed by kids all over Southern Africa, widely played in schools and villages in the region.
Rugby Union
The story of African rugby has been dominated by South Africa, who have been one of the world’s most successful teams over the years, winning the 1995 World Cup amid emotional scenes in the wake of Apartheid.
But other nations are beginning to pick up on the sport, and the governing body Rugby Africa now consists of 39 member nations, that compete in various competitions such as the Rugby Africa Cup and both men’s and women’s rugby sevens.
So, it looks like sports betting is going to keep gaining momentum across Africa, a continent already crazy about sport. Infrastructure, plus the resources young Africans need to engage with sports betting can only be good for the industry and the enjoyment of the punters.
