2023-12-28 02:00:12
LETTER FROM ABIDJAN
The Félix-Houphouët-Boigny stadium, in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), December 5, 2023. LUC GNAGO / REUTERS
In Abidjan, Junior Beugré sums up the sports betting guide in two words: “ It takes technique and flair”, details this owner of a stand of the National Lottery of Côte d’Ivoire (Lonaci). The practical aspects are just a formality. All you need is to have downloaded a bookmaker’s application, an Internet connection and small amounts. At 1XBet, of which Junior Beugré is a loyal customer, bets start at 90 CFA francs (0.13 euros).
The site, one of three approved operators in Ivory Coast, is omnipresent these days. Official partner of the 2024 African Cup of Nations (CAN), which will kick off in Abidjan on January 13, it has offered the services of four Ivorian influencers for the launch of its campaign “ Join my Gbonhi! » (« Join my team! » in Nouchi, Ivorian slang) in early 2023. Its posters cover the walls of the Ivorian economic capital, promising a “FantasticCAN” to fans of sports betting.
There are more and more of them chasing the jackpot in Ivory Coast as on the rest of the continent. “ Of course there are big wins! “, Junior Beugré gets carried away, even if he himself says he is losing “ all the time ».
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Tremendous surge in the sector
This vision of sports betting as a potential source of income within a population lacking economic prospects is only one of the factors explaining the tremendous growth of the sector south of the Sahara. Like 1XBet, a platform founded in 2017 in Cyprus, dozens of international companies named PremierBet, BetClic, SportPesa or BetPawa are positioned there today. They hope to capture the dividends of a still virgin, poorly regulated market, where mobile Internet is growing as quickly as demographics.
Until the early 2000s, the lion’s share of gambling on the continent went to casinos, mainly frequented by the richest, expatriates and tourists. But the boom in cell phones and mobile payments has changed the situation. According to estimates from the research company H2 Gambling Capital cited by the Bloomberg agency, Africans should have bet some 2.9 billion dollars (2.6 billion euros) online in 2023, or fifty times more than ‘ten years ago.
“Thanks to digital, the sector is opening up very quickly. And in countries where the population is very young, there will be a growing number of players over 18”, enthuses Ntoudi Mouyelo, general manager of BetPawa, a platform which operates in eleven sub-Saharan countries through a franchise system. All according to a 100% digital model which allows the brand to develop quickly.
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