Even though casinos are the biggest contributors to gambling in South Africa, online sports betting is not far behind.
It would be wrong to start with anything else apart from casinos. They are the biggest component of this gambling market with revenues coming from 40 different casinos accounting for around 70% of all the revenues in the year 2015.
Gauteng was ahead of every other casino here with R7.4 billion in revenues for the year. This was 5.5% higher than the previous year. Casino GGR was projected to grow at an estimate of 4.2% every year.
Betting is the fastest growing category right now with an increase of 28.5% in GGT which also took the total share of GGR in this figure to 17% from 14%.
Betting has been fuelled mainly by an increase in legal sports betting. This, in turn, has helped boost the availability of legal online sports betting.
The growth in internet penetration and more online betting services being licensed is only going to make sports betting more popular in the continent.
Best UK Casino Sites to Play From Africa
There are top casino sites in UK that are easily accessible from Africa. Usually, local African casino sites are not as great as the ones that are targeted to larger audiences. In UK there are plenty of different kinds of casino websites that also people living in Africa can have an easy access to. In addition to own websites of the best casino operators, many other casino-related portals can be found online: these are designed to share more information about the top casino websites in UK and worldwide for African players. These websites include articles and images, sometimes even videos that are reviewing and explaining the functions of certain casinos.
The benefits of reading these kinds of casino-related websites are obvious. Nowadays there are nearly hundreds of casino sites in UK and all over the world that that it is often difficult to spot the best ones. These portals are simply targeted at making players’ life a little bit easier: they collect all the important data of each online casino that they decide to mention at their site. This is done in the form of reviews.
In Africa players can read the same reviews and articles as the rest of the world. The casino business itself is not as vibrant in the African countries as it is for instance in the UK, so no wonder people from Africa are exploring the best casino sites in UK and Europe as well. Similar phenomenon can be found with the Asian gamblers as well as South-American.
The sites can usually be visited via mobile phones, and this too explains the increase in African players at UK casino websites.
Limited Payout Machines
Then there are LPMs (limited payout machines) which you can find in most clubs, bars, and restaurants in many African countries. These machines have helped introduce the audience to video slots and with the internet now being made available so easily, a lot of people are easily able to gain access such machines online. What’s more, they aren’t just limited payout machines, but they are full-blown video slots. The kind that offers jackpots in the millions. There’s no denying the fact that this will only make people want to play more.
Gambling is rapidly becoming popular in Africa and there is no reason why Africa won’t soon become one of the most popular continents for online gambling companies to target. This should also result in development and employment opportunities.
There are so many sports lovers in Africa who are looking at gambling as a great way to pass their time. This is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide and there is no reason why this won’t be the case in Africa as well.
There are many forms of gambling like casinos and sports betting which are quickly becoming a phenomenon of sorts in Africa. Countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana are experiencing huge expansions in various forms of gambling. Poker, sports bets, lotteries, slot machines, online gambling and casino games are all a part of the new trend.
This could end up being quite problematic since there are densely populated slums in countries like Ghana where most unemployed youth spend the few coins they have in the hopes of hitting the jackpot. The only problem with this idea of theirs is that the number of wins is far too little as compared to the number of losses.
The future is here
The proponents of gambling say that this industry does have benefits to offer the economy of the country. They believe that gambling acts as a recreational enjoyment for a majority of the youth who get safe ways to pass their time. Even the government can earn revenue through gambling and of course, the wins are what everyone is looking for.
Smartphones have made this problem even bigger with cheap Chinese smartphones so that almost everybody can gamble online. Add to this the fact that gambling doesn’t require more than a few cents nowadays and this becomes a major problem.
The greatest problem, however, is the fact that no one wants to give up until they make it big. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really come for most people. They waste too much time and money on this. Something has to change before it’s too late.