These are some of the highlights from PwC’s fourth annual edition on the gaming industry entitled ‘Taking the Odds: Gambling outlook for 2015 – 2019 (South Africa – Nigeria – Kenya)’.
The publication focuses on segments within the gambling industry with detailed forecasts and analysis. Each segment details the key trends observed as well as key challenges and future prospects. The National Gambling Board of South Africa is the source for historical data.
Of the three countries included in the analysis, South Africa has the largest overall gambling market. In South Africa, gross casino gambling revenues totalled R17.2 billion in 2014 compared with R497 million in Nigeria and R218 million in Kenya.
And all of this did not even take the rise of online gambling into account. While brick-and-mortar casinos are still the largest component of the gambling market with casino gross gambling revenues accounting for 72% of total gross gambling revenues in 2014, down from 76% in 2013, the report makes mention of the casino industry’s concern about the rise of online gambling.
With thousands of online casinos now available for online and mobile gambling and accessible from South Africa, industry experts predict the popularity of smartphones in South Africa will play a major role in what they describe as the 2nd gambling revolution in South Africa.
The first revolution was when gambling became legal for the first time in South Africa after the first democratic elections in 1994. Then South Africans visited brick-and-mortar casinos like there would be no tomorrow. But this was nothing as radical as what is happening to gaming and gambling at the moment with the development of online and mobile technology. These days South Africans are waking up to the reality that there are better ways to not only enjoy gambling but also profit from it.
And it is also more profitable. Unlike brick and mortar casinos, online casinos have minimal operating expenses, allowing them to offer much better giveaways and prizes.
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