Africa Summit at iGB L!VE 2026: Stakeholders Chart Path for Growth, Harmonisation and Localisation

The inaugural Africa Summit at iGB L!VE 2026 brought together operators, regulators and suppliers to debate the region's rapid evolution, with panels spanning tax policy, localisation, payments and sports betting.

Harmonisation and Taxation

In the opening panel, Lungile Dukwana (CEO, South African National Gambling Board), Bashir Are (CEO, Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority) and Olabimpe Akingba (head of responsible gaming, pawaTech) discussed cooperative frameworks. Akingba stressed that flexibility is essential because “there’s really no one size fit all” across Africa. Dukwana proposed starting with “sharing the standards on the simpler issues like consumer protection” as the easiest path to harmonisation.

Akingba later warned that overtaxation could destroy the industry: “Regulators, operators, we need to work together to ensure that the tax authorities, the legislative arm of government, are also knowledgeable about the industry to understand that there’s a level at which you can tax that could completely wipe out the industry.” Are similarly cautioned that “when you have a regime in which the taxes are very high, the market will not survive.”

Guga Gotsadze, CEO of SmartSoft, said viewing Africa as a single market is the “biggest mistake” companies can make. Instead, his firm develops “market specific approaches” because “understanding those differences is what creates sustainable growth.”

A subsequent panel on taxation and channelisation featured Ed Birkin (H2 Gambling Capital), Dan Thomson (pawaTech CCO) and Dukwana. Thomson revealed pawaTech had exited three African jurisdictions in the past 18 months due to unviable tax rates. “This is an industry that could grow for the next 20 years, where there’s a load of operators happy to pay significant levels of tax,” he said. “But if it’s squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, we are not NGOs, we are commercial entities. We are here to ultimately turn a profit.” Thomson added that operators need stable, multi-year horizons for investment: “We want to make investments on a three-to-ten-year time horizon, and if we go, ‘well, I just can’t rely on the numbers for the next five years because everything could blow up’… frankly we’re just going to invest less there.”

Localisation and Cultural Adaptation

A panel chaired by Lois Bright (Gaming Advisory Partners) explored tailoring global products for African audiences. Gail Odgers (Virgin Bet, South Africa GM) said localisation comes “by starting and continually evolving your product based on your insights, continually updating your creative, your language, so it’s inclusive, and learning from that.” Christian Rajter (Split the Pot CEO) advised companies to “listen to the players, should listen to the market, talk to the smart people that actually live there and actually will be consuming your product.” Simon Munsamy (Playtech’s Africa MD) warned against a one-size-fits-all approach but noted not everything needs localisation. Gotsadze cautioned that localisation should “never compromise product quality or identity”; his objective is “to preserve the core experience that players enjoy while making it feel more relevant to the local audience.”

Payments, KYC and Compliance

Moderated by Charles Ekundayo (Africa Gaming Expo CEO), a payments panel included Anthony Prissman (Super Group), Denis Mudene Ngabirano (Uganda National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board CEO) and Conor O’Donovan (Tekkorp Capital). Prissman highlighted that mobile money had “changed the dynamic of transactions” and that trust is critical: “If you’re not trusted, no one’s going to come and bet with you.” O’Donovan noted mobile money isn’t always cost-efficient in every market. Ngabirano shared that Uganda’s high gambling age of 25 inadvertently drives youth to the black market, prompting adoption of risk-based KYC. Prissman called a pan-African KYC solution “a long way away.” Gotsadze pointed to increasing access to digital payments as a core reason for Africa’s growth potential.

Sports Betting: Football and Infrastructure

The closing panel, chaired by Kyle Goldsmith (iGamingBusiness), featured Martin Sack and William Scott (both Gaming Advisory Partners / Ithuba Holdings). They agreed football is the primary growth driver. Sack emphasised infrastructure over product: “I think it’s more about infrastructure. I think it’s more about the way payments have improved, the way infrastructure has improved, the way mobile adoption has improved.” He dismissed sports sponsorship as a panacea, calling it “an amplifier rather than a fix for structural flaws” and warning that “if you have a bad product, you can’t put lipstick on a pig.” Sack defined sustainable engagement as “creating long-term value for both the customer and the operator… building trust with fair products, CRM, fast payments and responsible gaming.” Gotsadze echoed football’s dominance: “It is deeply embedded in everyday culture and naturally drives engagement across the entire gaming ecosystem.”