African iGaming Alliance Calls for Balanced Regulation to Combat Africa’s Illegal Gambling Market
The African iGaming Alliance (AiA) has today published its policy response to the recently released Gaming Compliance International (GCI) report, Online Gaming 2024–2025: Africa, welcoming the report’s comprehensive assessment of illegal gambling across the continent while urging policymakers to complement enforcement with policies that strengthen regulated markets.
According to the GCI report, Africa’s online gambling market generated an estimated USD23 billion in Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) during 2025, with approximately 77% of that activity occurring through unregulated operators. The report also estimates that more than 4,100 unregulated operators are targeting African consumers and that governments may be losing an estimated USD4.45 billion annually in forgone tax revenue.
Commenting on the report, Peter Emolemo Kesitilwe, Chief Executive Officer of the African iGaming Alliance, said:
“The GCI/YieldSec report provides compelling evidence of the scale of Africa’s illegal gambling market and should serve as a catalyst for policymakers across the continent. The Alliance fully supports robust enforcement against illegal operators. However, enforcement alone will not solve this challenge.”
Kesitilwe said governments should focus not only on disrupting illegal operators but also on ensuring that licensed markets are competitive, attractive and capable of channeling consumers towards regulated operators.
“The most sustainable response to illegal gambling is to create regulated markets that consumers willingly choose because they are safe, competitive and well-regulated. Success should ultimately be measured by outcomes, higher channelisation, stronger consumer protection, sustainable tax revenues and a shrinking illegal market.”
The Alliance noted that the GCI report identifies several policy factors that influence the competitiveness of regulated markets, including taxation, payment systems and product availability. AiA believes these factors should form part of a balanced regulatory framework alongside effective monitoring, intelligence-led enforcement and cross-border cooperation.
The African iGaming Alliance reaffirmed its commitment to working with governments, regulators, revenue authorities and other stakeholders to develop evidence-based regulatory frameworks that protect consumers while supporting sustainable investment, innovation and economic growth across Africa.
The Alliance’s full policy paper, “The Illegal Gambling Challenge in Africa: Enforcement Alone Is Not Enough,” is available on the African iGaming Alliance website.
https://africanigaming.org/resources-policy/response-to-gci-report
