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Africa Safer Gambling Week: A Blueprint for Continent-Wide Player Protection

By jili tutorial · September 13, 2026

Africa Safer Gambling Week: A Blueprint for Continent-Wide Player Protection

The inaugural Africa Safer Gambling Week, hosted by the African iGaming Alliance (AiA), marks a pivotal moment for the continent’s licensed gambling sector. But according to AiA CEO Peter Kesitilwe, the true measure of success will be whether this event catalyzes lasting, year-round collaboration among regulators, operators, and industry associations. This guide expands on the week’s key themes, the challenges facing African markets, and the practical steps needed to turn good intentions into measurable player protection.

The Vision Behind Africa Safer Gambling Week

Africa Safer Gambling Week is designed to move beyond the typical conference-circuit rhetoric. Kesitilwe explains that the initiative “demonstrates that cooperation does not have to remain at the level of conference and policy discussion. It has to translate into practical action—educating players, engaging communities, protecting young people, and highlighting the dangers of illegal and unlicensed gambling.”

The event brought together a wide range of stakeholders: regulators from multiple jurisdictions, licensed operators, and industry associations. Each day focused on a specific player-protection theme, including responsible gambling tools, prevention of underage play, and combating the illegal market. The week’s early indicators have been “very encouraging,” with over one million online impressions generated—a sign that there is a “real appetite” for safer gambling efforts across Africa.

Annual Event, Daily Commitment

While the campaign will be held annually, Kesitilwe stresses that responsible gambling cannot be a one-week exercise. “The campaign may run for a week, but responsible gambling must be practiced throughout the year.” This principle underpins the AiA’s long-term strategy: using the week as a platform for ongoing cooperation, information sharing, and the development of consumer protection principles that transcend national borders.

Practical Action Over Policy Talk

One of the central criticisms of safer gambling initiatives globally is that they often produce glossy reports but little behavioral change. The AiA aims to break that pattern by emphasizing tangible outcomes:

Kesitilwe notes that these actions must be tailored to each market’s social context. “We respect those differences. At the same time, many of these risks cross borders. We do not need identical laws in every country, but we do need greater cooperation.”

Diverse Markets, Shared Risks: Why a One-Size-Fits-All Model Won’t Work

Africa is not a monolithic gambling landscape. Regulatory structures vary wildly—from mature frameworks in South Africa and Kenya to nascent or even absent regulations in other nations. Social attitudes toward gambling also differ, influenced by cultural norms, religious beliefs, and economic realities.

How Africa Safer Gambling Week Addresses Diversity

Rather than pushing for a single regulatory model, the AiA’s approach is to create a common continental platform where stakeholders can:

This collaborative framework allows locally appropriate solutions (e.g., awareness campaigns in local languages or partnerships with traditional leaders) while maintaining a baseline of consumer protection across the continent.

Underage Gambling: The Most Urgent Priority

When asked which issue demands the most attention, Kesitilwe points directly to underage gambling. The rapid increase in mobile penetration across Africa—often through affordable smartphones and cheap data plans—has put betting apps into the hands of children and teenagers.

The Advertising Problem

Kesitilwe cites a particularly alarming trend: the sheer volume of gambling advertising during sports broadcasts. “At a break or at half time you see 10 to 20 adverts. It’s come to a point that oftentimes I even hear my kids singing [gambling adverts]. They’ll just keep asking, ‘But Daddy, what is this? What does this mean?’”

This normalization of betting among young audiences is a direct threat to player protection. The AiA’s position is unequivocal: “Betting is an adult activity. Operators must maintain effective age verification, marketing must not target or appeal to children, and regulators, parents, schools, and communities must reinforce the same message.”

Practical Measures to Combat Underage Gambling

The Illegal Market: A Threat to Licensed Operators and Player Safety

A major focus of Africa Safer Gambling Week was the offshore and unlicensed gambling market. According to a study by Gaming Compliance International cited by Kesitilwe, approximately 77% of Africa’s gambling market is offshore—meaning it operates outside local regulation, tax systems, and consumer protections.

Why Illegal Gambling Is a Player Protection Issue

Illegal operators evade the basic safeguards that licensed businesses are required to provide:

“An illegal operator may not provide age verification, responsible gambling tools, secure treatment of player funds, or an effective complaints mechanism,” Kesitilwe explains. “So illegal operators undermine licensed businesses that invest in compliance, contribute to taxes, and operate under regulatory oversight.”

The Vicious Cycle of Overregulation

Kesitilwe warns that governments often misunderstand the root causes of problem gambling. In response to public concern, they may impose heavy taxes, restrictive licensing, or even outright bans on iGaming. But such measures can inadvertently drive players toward illegal websites, where no protection exists.

“Oftentimes when you see governments increasing taxes, banning iGaming, it’s mainly because of illegal operators because they don’t comply,” he says. Licensed operators already bear the cost of compliance; punitive policies only shrink the licensed market and expand the unregulated one.

Measuring Success: Channelisation and Evidence-Based Policy

For the AiA, the primary metric for Africa Safer Gambling Week’s success will be whether channelisation improves by the next edition—that is, whether a greater percentage of the overall gambling market moves into licensed, regulated channels.

But that is not the only goal. Kesitilwe reveals that the AiA plans to commission Africa-wide prevalence studies on problem gambling. “We intend to do Africa-wide studies around prevalence of problem gambling in different markets, obviously working with regulators and associations.”

Why Research Matters

Building a Permanent Fixture: Expanding Participation Year by Year

The inaugural week has laid the foundation. “Success should not be measured only by whether all countries participate in one year,” Kesitilwe notes. “It should also be measured by whether we have created a credible foundation that more can join.”

Next Steps for the AiA and Partners

Conclusion: A Credible Foundation for Lasting Change

Africa Safer Gambling Week has already demonstrated that the appetite for safer gambling is strong across the continent. The challenge now is to transform that appetite into sustained action. By focusing on practical measures, respecting market diversity, combating the illegal sector, and building an evidence base, the AiA and its partners can create a safer environment for players—not just for one week, but every day of the year.

As Kesitilwe puts it, “We want Africa Safer Gambling Week to create a platform for ongoing cooperation.” The inaugural week has laid that platform. Now the work of building on it begins.