Sports Betting East Africa 2019 Bridges East Africa into the Digital Age

The East Africa landscape just became a whole lot more enticing after last week's SBEA 2019.

Sports Betting East Africa + 2019 came off like a charm in April 12^th in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kampala, Uganda, and a rundown of the main insights offers a fascinating and enlightening review of the East Africa landscape.

Tackling Public Stigmas

After a warm welcome from event chair Judith Kiragu, Uganda National Gaming Board CEO Edgar Agaba provided a strategy for tackling public stigmas towards gambling in East Africa--citing non-compliance, illegal operations, and poor CSR and responsible gambling regimes as the leading contributors.

Regulator Discussion

Then regulators from across East Africa went over recent changes, with Uganda and Tanzania representatives agreeing that regulatory harmonization is the current priority for gaining the trust of foreign investors.

Local Operating Barriers

Operators took center stage in the next session to discuss local market barriers in East Africa such as high taxation, signage banning, and high age restrictions.

Getting Sports Betting into Casinos

Local expert Najib Balinda said the two keys are keeping players engaged for longer and offering more chances to win in play at the casino.

Barriers to Entry

Then attendees learned from Lasha Gogiberidze that the main entry barriers to the African market today are Regulation and Culture, Infrastructure and Products.

Networking Night

Day One was capped off by lavish networking events sponsored by Digitain for drinks and then Jim’s Poker Room for the night's much anticipated Poker Tournament.

VIP Risk and Reward

Casino and sports betting professionals discussed the primary challenge of hosting VIP players at East Africa establishments: pushing up operating costs while receiving low returns, and came to the conclusion that a reward-based system is the most effective solution.

Building Brands in East Africa

Clever Advertising's Catarina Marques discussed core brand-building principles for the sports betting sector, reminding all that a brand is not what you say about your company, it's about how players feel about your company.

Engaging Millennials in Africa

In order to modernise products, providers agreed that while product education is vital to educating players, companies need to innovate new games to stimulate engagement in stagnating East Africa sectors such as casinos and lottery.

Overview

The comprehensivity of the coverage for a two day event should speak for itself: SBEA Africa + 2019 was a rousing success which set unprecedented standards for the conference moving forward as it plays a vital hub role in developing East Africa and overall continental benefits from gaming.