The development of the online gambling sector has been one of the most notable features of the global economy, powered by the rapid growth of internet technology.
From the best European casino sites to high-profile BST casinos Kenya, Nigeria or Ghana, new casino providers, and new platforms are being launched every year. Although this has given online casino fans plenty of options for playing their favourite games, it has also posed significant challenges to the authorities in countries across Europe, Africa, and the rest of the world. So, how have governments and legal authorities responded to these challenges?
The Picture in Europe
Europe is the home of the world’s longest-established and arguably most sophisticated online casino gaming sector, but although most of the continent’s major nations are part of the European Union, this does not mean that there is a common approach to gambling.
Although there are many rules and regulations governing the EU and the way that member nations regulate their economies, individual EU nations all have their own approach to online casinos.
For example, Belgium takes a very strict approach to online casino regulation, with strictly controlled advertising and stringent operating rules. It has even banned gaming companies from releasing certain video games for the Belgian market as they use ‘loot boxes’ which the Belgian regulators consider to be a form of gambling.
At the other end of the regulatory extreme is the UK, which, while no longer part of the EU, is a major part of the European gambling sector. In the UK, which has one of the world’s longest established gambling industries, online gambling operators are regulated, but they also have a great deal of freedom and there is no limit on the number of operators allowed in the market.
Elsewhere in Europe, there is a patchwork of regulatory environments, but the one thing in common to many of these nations is that they are still in a process of adjusting their laws to reflect the realities of the internet. Although online casinos have been a factor since the late 1990s, it is only in recent years that nations such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have properly addressed the existence of online casinos, creating new laws and new supervisory bodies to oversee them.
In most cases in Europe, anti-gambling sentiment has not held back the economic or social forces that combine to make a thriving gambling sector. The same cannot be said, however, for Africa.
African Online Gambling
The gambling landscape in Africa varies significantly from one country to another, with varying levels of activity and engagement. The African gambling market is dominated by three nations: South Africa, Nigeria and to a lesser extent, Kenya. All three nations have flourishing sports betting sectors, but when it comes to online casino gaming, the path towards a thriving industry has been a lot rockier.
In South Africa, sports betting is legal, while online casinos are technically illegal, though there is a grey area in which overseas operators are able to supply South African citizens with access to online gambling. Also, operators creatively adapt traditional casino games to fit within the legal sports betting regulations, for instance, instead of featuring a ‘spin-button’ typically found in slot games, operators brand these games as numbers-style draw games. Additionally, operators display their creativity by modifying traditional casino games to correspond to the legal sports betting regulations. For instance, rather than incorporating the customary ‘spin-button’ associated with slot games, operators rebrand these games as number-based draw games.
In Nigeria, the legal position is clearer, and sports betting is booming, but the online casino sector is a bit hampered by a lack of clarity over which authority is to oversee the sector. In Kenya, meanwhile, a thriving gambling sector was hit over speculation about a massive hike in taxes on gambling operators.
In all three nations, there has also been considerable opposition to the perceived social harms that many believe come with gambling. Common to all three nations also is the lack of clear guidance and control from government and regulators, which means that there is less oversight of the gambling sector than you will find in most European nations.
But the situation is developing. Governments strive to ensure that casino and sports betting operators are doing enough on problem gambling and on protecting customers.
A more successful, albeit smaller scale African gambling sector has been established in Tanzania. Unlike some other African nations, Tanzania introduced regulated gambling in 2012 and further liberalised the rules in 2019. The result has been a flourishing gambling sector in which technology features heavily to both deliver gambling products and to ensure safe gambling.
Conclusion
The income and resource disparity between Europe and Africa means that there are significant differences between the two continents when it comes to gambling regulation.
Nevertheless, both are facing the same issues: how to balance safety and market forces, how to regulate effectively and how to ensure that legislation is adequate enough to handle the rapid development of technology. Both continents have their successes and failures and it is possible that both have something to learn from one another in shaping the gambling rules of the future.
