Everyone knows that Africa is a large market with huge potential but it’s one with an evolving and challenging regulation, infrastructure and technology landscape.
In time, things will mature, but eager operators looking to ride the wave of growth that Africa will continue to see need to cater for today’s market with a compelling online casino offering geared to give players the best experience possible.
To give context, let’s bear in mind the majority of players’ slow, comparatively expensive internet connections and VPN limitations, the high data costs players face – with the average price of 1GB of data being $7 (with this unlikely to come down any time soon) and the prevalence of legacy devices – in Africa, 50% of devices are feature phones and just 40% are smartphones.
Breaking it down further, there’s also great differences between the infrastructure and technology profiles of each country.
This is why operators should consider working with game suppliers that are taking an Africa-centric product approach, and that have the technical ability and proprietary solutions already built to develop and optimise their games for Opera Mini (it’s the browser of choice in Africa – with a 60% share of the market compared to just 2% in Europe).
Its data compression technology is the key reason; it’s engineered to save data and deliver faster browsing on slow networks. But true optimisation is a highly technical process that’s much more than simply taking each file and shrinking it to the smallest possible size.
Opera doesn’t make it easy. One of the challenges with optimising for Opera Mini’s Smart Browsing (where the optimal browsing configuration is automatically set through one of its multiple compression modes) – is its bespoke rendering and execution of JavaScript in its ‘extreme’ and ‘high data saving’ versions.
That’s why game suppliers often struggle to build games that function on Opera Mini when they have been designed to European browser standards.
Of course, fast-loading, widely compatible content that doesn’t heavily consume data is one thing, but it needs to be the right content. A topic that there’s a few differing approaches being taken on.
Let’s not lose sight of the infancy of the vertical from a product perspective; it’s still relatively early days for most territories – be it Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, etc – and this influences product strategy for specific operator archetypes.
This goes a fair way to explain why the market has yet to see a studio or studios build a symbolic link that associates themselves with the territory like we have in the RoW. For example, Blueprint Gaming is a must-have brand in the UK, Stakelogic in the Netherlands, Gamomat in Germany, etc. These studios are ‘stars’ for their respective markets.
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Player education is key. There’s a need to build a rapport with players who haven’t yet enjoyed the fun of playing casino games. We need to take them on the journey step-by-step and build their confidence so they’re comfortable taking the leap from sports betting and instant wins to slots and jackpots.
Given sports betting is inherently the dominant form of gambling in the region, operators need to find ways of driving players to their casino verticals if they’re to maximise their current player base, but also attract new punters and have them engage with what’s on offer.
This is where (slots to one side) instant win games can steal a march given their relative simplicity and often soft look and feel. They can be highly effective product types to help get the eye of a sportsbook punter, and cross-sell is key for any operator (irrespective of the market they operate in) wanting to push something new across verticals. I’ve no doubt that slots and instant win games will continue to fuel the growth of Africa’s online gambling industry.
With all that being said, I’m certain that the continent will catch up with more established regions over the next three to five years, and when it does it will likely mean that lightweight content becomes less of a priority.
And there’s a fair chance that content loved in Europe and/or the US will blend into the psyche of African players, too. No supplier can ensure every game performs well everywhere, but we can use our understanding of content to give the games the best possible chance of success.
But right now? Smart operators will want to make a play for early mover advantage and for these brands, the right content choices and data-lite products (optimised for Opera Mini) are important if they’re to unlock the full potential of the newly emerging market now and in the future.
Phil Collins is COO at Jelly, and the former COO of an industry-recognised, licensed real-money game studio. He is a former head of cloud engineering for Virgin Money.
