Africa has one of the largest gambling markets in the world. The sports betting industry in the continent has grown dramatically in recent years. The region has many local and foreign sportsbooks such as Betway. African gamblers have embraced virtual sports like virtual football and horse racing. New betting trends have emerged in the continent in the recent past. The following are four online betting trends in Africa.
1. Mobile Gambling
Smartphones play a crucial role in our day-to-day activities. They help us communicate with friends, save and share information. Some people use them to wager. Many gamblers like bookies that offer convenient mobile gambling. Some betting firms prioritize iOS and Android devices. They provide applications and mobile sites that African punters can access.
Mobile gambling apps offer timely sports updates and have fast load speeds. Besides, they don’t need a lot of storage space. This feature has increased the popularity of mobile gambling in Africa.
2. Virtual Sports
Virtual sports are rapidly gaining popularity in Africa. Their traffic in the gambling market is like that of traditional sports betting. The Betway mobile betting app offers different virtual sports including virtual football, virtual basketball league, virtual horse classics, and virtual tennis open.
Most virtual sports players are men aged 18 to 40 years. A large percentage of them are ardent fans of football. They support local tournaments and foreign leagues like the Bundesliga, French Ligue, the English Premier League, and Serie A.
Many virtual football leagues resemble real football. They have league tables and real teams. Most of these games last for two minutes. Bookies settle bets immediately after virtual soccer games end. Some punters like playing Spin2Win and Keno. Horse races are famous in French-speaking African nations.
3. Diverse Payment Options
Sportsbooks in different countries offer a variety of payment options. Leading mobile service providers like Airtel, Orange and Safaricom have partnered with betting firms to provide mobile payment services such as Airtel Money, Orange Money, and MPesa. MPesa is the leading online payment service in East Africa while Vodacom is the major mobile payment service in South Africa. Other payment options include Neteller, PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, bank transfer, and Skrill.
4. Betting Markets
Betting firms in Africa provide a variety of betting options. They include the betting position and number of wagers in a bet ticket. Bet slips have different types of bets that are classified into Express, System, and Single.
Many African punters like Single betting. They pick one betting option in a sporting event and place it as a single bet or combine several bets to form an accumulator. Research shows that pundits who place accumulators with more than eight bets have lower chances of winning compared to those with bet slips of less than four bets.
Some pundits like the betting position type of online betting. This includes Handicap, Double Chance, and the Final Result. They are common in football and the Final Result option has the highest odds. You can add bets with different positions of betting in a single bet slip.
Sports betting is popular worldwide. Online gambling generates more than 50 percent of revenue in the betting industry. Some African countries have strict gambling laws while others have lenient regulations. Betway allows pundits to place small stakes on different sports events. It offers different payment options including mobile payment.