The business of online casinos: Trends, challenges, and opportunities

The global explosion of the online casino industry is there to stay as it is not expected to slow down any time soon. Although not everybody was convinced about the potential of swapping slot machines for virtual ones, the success of online casinos lies in a solid business model that is very simple yet effective.

The online casino industry has become one of the most lucrative industries in the world and it is still far away from reaching its full potential. Online casinos around the world have grown thanks to technological advancements exponentially, the rise of mobile devices, and the increasing demand for online entertainment. This guide will provide insights into the latest trends, challenges, and developments in the business of online casinos. It does so from both an African and global perspective.

The online casino industry has come a very long way since the first digital casino was launched in the nineties, in 1994 to be precise. It did take quite a while before players were fully convinced to sign up, deposit their money, and play with real money, but today the industry is worth billions of dollars and is considered a major contributor to the global economy. In fact, it’s expected to explode in Africa too as more and more countries have started embracing online gambling, especially sports betting. Other than in Nigeria, sports betting is already offered in other African nations such as Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. 

Even so, the industry is governed by a complex regulatory framework that varies across different jurisdictions explaining why there are as many challenges as opportunities to overcome. The online casino industry continues to grow across the continent, with new games and features being launched to attract and retain players. The top-rated gaming websites from Europe have shown the potential of online gambling and it is up to African digital entrepreneurs to bring internet gambling to Africa and expand it accordingly.

At the same time, a market that is disputed in the digital world is also one that is highly competitive as it lacks borders or tangible products, with new operators joining the market every day and basically copy-pasting successful sites. To get the most out of the potential, online gambling operators should put their effort and focus on developing innovative and engaging casino games that can both attract and retain players. Conveniently, there are many ways to do so. The following are some of the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in the industry. These are global trends and might vary from country to country.

With the swift shift towards mobile gambling, online casino websites have been focusing on developing mobile games and optimising their platforms for mobile devices. 

With the rapid rise of mobile devices and internet usage all over Africa via smartphones and tablets, players can now access their favourite online casino platforms anywhere and at any time. This trend has already led to a shift in focus by online gambling operators that operate in Europe, North America, and Oceania, and African gambling enthusiasts will ride along as all this has paved the way for. To take advantage of this trend, gambling operators should focus on developing mobile-first strategies and mobile-friendly designs. This, however, does not only mean their own website needs to be optimised for mobile devices, it also means that mobile wallets like should be implemented on the website. 

Less notable in Africa, players from all around the world have shown a growing preference for online casino lobbies that feature interactive games with real, human dealers instead of generating computer based results. Despite the convenience of digital casinos and betting, players have shown to miss the human interaction found in land based casino venues and the industry did not fail to respond to this need. Live dealer casinos quickly filled this gap by combining live streams with human dealers that operate in real live studios. With the introduction of live dealer tables, players can see how human dealers spin the wheel, roll the dice, or shuffle the cards. All outcomes are announced by real dealers instead of pop-up messages. Live dealer casinos are also optimised for mobile play. 

Demand for live dealer casinos among players might not come as anything new in the world, but it has turned out to actually overtake traditional, computer driven games. The same will happen in African nations although this will also depend on the future growth of internet connections and maybe even on whether live dealer studios are housed on the continent or not. Virtually all continents have live dealer studios (Europe, Asia, North America, South America), but Africa is one of the few places not yet to feature a live dealer studio. With local, African dealers, perhaps even speaking local languages, this would give online gambling in Africa a major upgrade in comparison with its current market. Legislation is yet another factor to be able to open live dealer studios on the continent.

There has been a growing focus on responsible gambling in recent years and this is expected to increase even more. Responsible gaming has led to online gambling operators taking steps to promote the risk of online gambling in order to protect vulnerable players. This means that an online casino will need to apply this policy to different fields such as customer service, IT, marketing, amongst others. Not only will visitors need to be able to set their limits in their account, they will also need to be assisted by professional customer care desk employees that refer vulnerable customers to the right organisations and make sure these players do not lose themselves in their online gambling activities. 

Sports betting has become a major driver of the growth of the online gambling industry across the continent, with a growing number of online sportsbooks catering to the needs of sports bettors. In Africa, online gambling is mostly restricted to sports betting in most countries whilst some allow both gambling products. To take advantage of this trend, online gambling operators should focus on developing sports betting platforms that offer the full range of betting options and features, such as live betting and cash-out options. 

As indicated above, services will need to be optimised for mobile usage and odds will need to be able to compete with those available on offshore platforms. One of Africa’s most important challenges is to keep African sports bettors on African platforms. If the money wagered stays on African sites it will also contribute to the country’s wealth as online gambling is already a billion dollar industry. As few countries in Africa are as favourable as Nigeria when it comes to the numbers, gaming can have a major economical contribution. 

This brings us to our last point as most of this guide has tried to combine both international and local trends and opportunities. With the legalisation of sports betting in new markets — both inside and outside of Africa — the market is expected to grow in the coming years. Even in countries like the United States, sports betting is not yet legalised in all states while the same holds for Canada and its provinces. Other countries around the world continue to adopt online betting as a legal activity as long as players meet the minimum age requirements. 

In Europe, Oceania, and North America, gambling enthusiasts have shown to swap land based venues for their digital counterparts, to which the corona pandemic contributed as well. Africa traditionally offers less legal brick and mortar casino venues which is why the local needs for large scale gambling needs to be created as well. While online casinos and gambling in general continue to expand in countries like Nigeria, other nations will still need to get to the phase of adopting and legalising betting activities. But once they do, they will understand why the business model of online casinos is so simple yet effective.

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