Best betting sites Africa
Sports betting in Africa has gained massive popularity in the last 10 years. There is almost no African who does not get his hands on African betting. Moreover, Africa is a huge potential market for investors. That’s why more and more foreign-based bookmakers are making their way into this big continent. The fastest growing online gambling markets are Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya. The overall gambling market costs at least 50 billion dollars.
This article will explore everything you need to know about betting in Africa. We want to have no stones untouched, we will look through the history of the African continent to find the roots of gambling, we will provide you the top best online sports betting sites for Africa. In addition, this hot continent consists of many countries with fantastic betting potentials. We will try to look through all of them, and even help you to choose the best one for you. African punters must know the place where they can start betting online with their friends.
How do we choose African online bookmakers?
We want to bring you the most reliable and honest information about online gambling in Africa. In order to accomplish this mission, we use certain methods that help us to choose the best online betting companies in Africa. When you are looking for the best betting sites, you can also use our methods.
Licensing
It’s the most important point when it comes to choosing online sports to bet in Africa. We always want to make sure that the bookies, that we recommend for you, have all the necessary documents and can legally operate within the borders of Africa. You must know that offering online gambling or online sports betting without a license is forbidden in Africa. If online betting sites have no license, but still provide services, they can face problems with the law.
At the same time, if an African citizen dares to play on illegal betting site, he or she can also go through the legal prosecution. That’s the reason why you don’t want to get involved in any shady online bookmakers business. In addition, Licenses ensure that all your rights reserved on the website and you have full legal protection if anything happens.
Moreover, getting a license in Africa is pretty difficult. Every country has its own rules on how to get a license. At the same time, the number of licenses can be limited and some operators may need to wait not even several months to operate within the borders of a certain country.
Security
Some people are very afraid of transferring their money via the internet. However, statistically speaking, it’s safer than any other way of transferring money. Nevertheless, it does not mean that you should forget about the security of your money. When bookmakers offer you payment methods on their websites, they also need to encrypt all the traffic that goes to the website. It means that any information that you trust to a betting site, like your name, address, credit card number must be secured. The properly licensed bookmakers usually have several types of software to protect your data. Nevertheless, to ensure that your money will be safe and your first deposit will be protected, we make a research to find out what kind of protection is used by African betting sites. You must understand, even the best online sports betting sites may have security breaches.
Reputation
A proper license is very important for an online betting site. Nevertheless, if a bookmaker legal in South Africa, North Africa, Central Africa, West, and East Africa, it can still allow some dishonest practices on the platform. For instance, online betting sites may suspend accounts of players who win too often or too much. They are not breaking any law, they follow their terms and conditions, and they have an army of lawyers to support the claim in any court, but they can still suspend players on their platform. It’s just one of many low practices of some sites in Africa.
Bad words travel fast, and if any top betting bookmaker tries to play the suspend card to often, other players will not like to place bets. Therefore, a bad reputation can spread quite fast and destroy online gambling sites on the matter of days. That’s why we also look through the reputation of bookmakers and casinos, so you could rely on the website you choose and do not afraid of any tricky actions. Thus, you will feel safe when placing bets.
By the way, reputation also works great for a site. If it provides good offers, then anyone will like to join the party and place a bet.
Custom Service
This factor as important as reputation. Best betting sites usually have a great support team that is available to you 24/7. All top sportsbook providers understand that a happy customer is a satisfied customer. and a satisfied customer usually has a lot of questions about everything. The quality of customer service is very important in sports betting. Sometimes even more important than anything else on the site. Firstly, you need to have enough ways to reach the company’s services. Moreover, a company has to provide its services 24/7. All the contact information should be properly displayed on the website. The more ways to reach customer services, the better.
Ways to organize communication with customers
- Live Chat. It’s the most popular option for African betting sites.
- Email. Send your list to the support team and wait for the response. It may take some time before they send you an answer.
- Social media. It might be just a variation of a live chat or links to the direct social media pages of the website.
- Support form. Every website should have a form, where you can directly print your message and wait for the answer in the email.
- Telephone number. It’s the most obvious and traditional way of communicating. Just dial the number and get your answers.
- FAQ. There are some obvious questions that need to have answers. The best way to deal with them is by the FAQ.
Deposits and Withdrawals
Banking is another great way to overview a website. When we look into this section of the site rating, we look for a few things concerning your payment.
Options that you will look for in the betting sites banking
- A variety of options. When you make your first deposit, you must look for specific methods of payment. In other words, you should not be limited.
- Different currencies. The company that has to accept any type of currency, South African Rand, Nigerian Naira, Kenyan shilling and so on.cu
- High limits. All transactions should be very straight in terms of limits. A live betting website can’t ask South African, or any other citizen of Africa to deposit a lot and withdraw only big sums of money. The process should fair clear for everybody.
- Quick transactions. Your money should be transferred as fast as possible. There is no need to ask you to wait for months to withdraw.
- No hidden fees. You must know about all possible fees and charges in South African, North African, Central, West, and East African betting sites right away.
Sports and Markets
This is our most favorite part of the sportsbook review. We want to take a look at the number of sports betting options available for Sout African, North African, Central, East, and West African residents. Of course, we also look through the most popular sports in Africa. In other words, the more options the betting site has, the better it will be. The top betting sites should also concentrate the attention on the most favorite sports in Africa. Football is the top one priority for most sports betting sites, but what about basketball, volleyball, or Esports? You must have a great selection of bets, no matter where you from. At the same time, there should be no limit bets for all South African, North African, Central East, and West African residents.
We also look for the number of markets available for you to place bets. That’s our way to ensure that you are profitable in online gambling.
Odds and Margins
Odds and Margins can be different in Africa. Betting websites have to obey certain rules in South African, North African, or any African countries. Remember, the house always wins and that’s totally legal and no one will argue with that. Still, it does not mean that players shouldn’t win also. That’s why we are looking through the certain cut that a bookmaker receives or expects to receive. In most cases, the average margin is 5-6%. As about odds in sports and bets on a site, they also tend to be quite different, but a bookmaker has to give you a chance to win. It has to provide you instruments to win like a bonus, free bets, extra money and so on.
In-play betting
It’s another fantastic feature that most sports betting sites have nowadays. Live betting is essentially needed for sports and no one will argue with that. South African players especially like live betting as it can give them a great number of opportunities to bet on. Some best betting South African websites focus only on in-play betting and this exactly provides them even more popular amongst customers.
Live Streaming
A modern online sports betting website just can’t exist without live streaming features. South African and West African websites constantly show football matches to invite more customers into betting. Free bets for Live Streaming events also a great way to indulge people in betting.
Mobile sports betting is also on the verge of popularity in Africa. Some African sites even offer a bonus for downloading their mobile apps.
Bonus and Promotion options
It’s the most valuable section of our research in South African, North African, Central, West, and East African online sports betting sites. Of course, one bonus can be different from another. Even in the same sports betting site. That’s why we consider all possibilities when it comes to the best betting sites.
Top sports betting sites in Africa
1xBet
It’s the number one betting site in Nigeria and Kenya. South African countries also adore this website especially due to its 100% welcome bonus.
- Nigerians can get the best from this offer because their welcome bonus on 1xBet can be up to 100,000 Naira.
- Kenya gets the offer with 10,000 Ksh or 100%.
- Ghanaians get up 200% offer at $100.
- South African residents can only enjoy the offer with 130% or 1500 Zar.
- What about Uganda and its offer on 1xBet? Ugandans get a 100% bonus as a welcome prize or 500,000 UGX.
- Tanzanians will enjoy an offer for the first deposit with 130% or up to 250,000 Tzs.
22Bet
22Bet is another great sports betting website that provides various ways to make money. The welcome bonus for this sports site is up 100%, but it can vary from country to country.
- Nigeria gets the offer of 100% or up to 50,000 Naira. Which is less than on 1xBet.
- For Kenya, 22Bet is the most popular sports site with 100% welcome offer or 15 000 Ksh
- Ghanaians get up 100% offer at $100.
- South African residents get only a 100% offer or 2000 Zar.
- Uganda gets a 100% bonus or 130 euros.
- The best offer can be for Tanzanians. They can get the first deposit with a 100% offer or up to 300,000 Tzs.
BetWinner
BetWinner is an online sports betting site with a great history in Africa. Africans adore BetWinner and especially its welcome bonus.
- Nigeria gets the offer of 100% or up to 100,000 Naira.
- For Kenya, BetWinner offers 100% welcome bonus or 11 200 Ksh
- Ghanaians get up 100% offer at $100.
- South African residents get only a 100% offer or 1500 Zar.
- Uganda gets a 100% bonus or 500 000 UGX.
- Tanzanians may enjoy their 100% offer or up to 250 000 Tzs as a welcome offer.
Bet9ja
It’s a special online betting sports website that is dear for all Nigerians. Bet9ja is a great example of how a native African sports betting site can shine amongst others. Bet9ja offers up to 100% welcome bonus or 100 000 Naira. Nevertheless, this lucrative proposition is available only for Nigerians. At the same time, this Nigerian website tries to open its arms towards other African countries and get their license to offer fantastic free bets and various payment methods. Of course, the main domain of Bet9ja is Nigeria, but other Africans also like to place their wagers there.
Betway
Like any other sports betting site, Betway offers special bonuses for newcomers on the platform.
- Nigerians get 50% on their first deposits. On the other hand, this bonus on sports can only get up to 20 000 Naira, which is less than on other online sports betting sites.
- For Kenya, BetWinner offers 50% welcome bonus or 5 000 Ksh
- Ghanaians get up 50% offer with 200 GHS.
- South Africans get only 25 rands as a signup offer.
- Uganda gets free bets or 500 000 UGX.
- Tanzanians may enjoy their 100% offer or up to 250 000 Tzs as a welcome offer.
Bet365
Bet365 belongs to the sports betting sites with awesome offers for new players. It gives daily bonuses, free bets, free spins, and other great options.
- Unfortunately, there is no special offer for Nigerians. Bet365 only provides 100% or up to 30 dollars welcome offer.
- The same for Kenya. Bet365 offers 100% on first deposits or up to 30 dollars welcome offer.
- Bet365 continues to follow its tradition here by offering 30 dollars welcome bonus in Ghana.
- South Africans also get a similar bonus.
- Uganda is not an exception. Bet365 just gives 30 dollars as a welcome offer.
- Tanzanians may enjoy the same offer from Bet365 as any other country in Africa.
Bwin
Bwin has a nice reputation among Africans. Most of the players give 5 stars to this sports betting site in Africa. Customer service is also wonderful with 24/7. Bwin does not usually provide welcome offers for Africans. What it can currently offer is daily bonuses, free spins, and other lucrative propositions to the customers.
888sport
It’s a fantastic website with various sports betting options, great offers, and interesting odds. Most of the players give this website a 5-star rating.
What else about the best sports betting sites?
Of course, it’s not the whole list of betting propositions in Africa. You can find a lot more sports betting sites by yourself. At the same time, you must remember to follow certain rules when choosing a sports betting website. By the way, you can also opt for casino sites. They are also quite popular in Africa. A lot of people win great money there. Most of the bookies from our list can also provide you casino offers. A casino game can also be a fantastic way to spend some time and win some money. Just try it and you will like it!
What about laws for betting in Africa?
Africa is a very big continent with a lot of countries. Therefore, any sports betting website has to comply with the rules of the country where it wants to launch its operations. That’s why we have prepared a list of the most betting countries in Africa and their laws regarding sports betting.
- Is betting legal in Ghana? According to the laws of Ghana, anyone who is 18 and older can place a bet on betting sites. The gaming industry is regulated in Ghana by the 2006 Gaming Act. This act also regulates the actions of the Ghana Gaming Commission, which is an only legal body that provides licenses to bookmaker companies. By the way, Ghanaians adore placing their bets on soccer most of all.
- Is betting legal in Kenya? According to the Betting Lotteries and Gaming Act, the betting control in Keny is provided to the Board (Betting Control and License Board). Only this institution has the power to license betting operators in Kenya. Kenyans usually prefer to use M-Pesa for the payment methods in betting. Kenyans also like to bet with their mobile phone, that’s why most popular bookmakers there usually have iOS and Android apps. The best sport to bet in Kenya is football. It’s the favorite sport of all Kenyans.
- Is online betting legal in South Africa? South African laws are pretty open towards betting sites in Africa. All sportsbooks who want to operate on the South African soil must comply with its laws Commission that deals with licenses. Otherwise, the penalties for operating without a license can be as high as R10 million. South African citizens usually use their mobile devices for betting and gambling.
- Is online betting legal in Nigeria? The laws regarding the betting industry in Nigeria are pretty much similar to any other country. To work in Nigeria, a betting site must have a license. Around 60 million Nigerians bet on a daily basis and proud of that. Most sportsbooks in Nigeria work legally. Nevertheless, due to some corruption problems and small fines for illegal betting, some operators provide their services undercover.
- Is betting legal in Tanzania? The betting sites are strictly regulated in Tanzania since 2012. The licenses to the gambling companies in Tanzania can only be given by the Gaming Board of Tanzania. For today, thousands of websites offer their gambling and sports services to Tanzanians, and not all of them have the license to operate. These sites do that because it’s cheaper and there is no need to go through the bureaucratic hell. Moreover, the risk of punishment is really low. Tanzanians also like to bet on football like any other Africans, but they also like basketball and boxing.
- Is online betting legal in Uganda? If you are 25 years and older, then you can legally bet in Uganda with no limits. All betting sites in Uganda are regulated by the Lotteries and Gaming Bill. At the same time, a lot of betting sites prefer not to get a license from Uganda. For today, there are only 40 registered sports betting companies that operate legally in Uganda. Ugandans are also pretty ok with illegal betting websites. Therefore, they mostly rely on the reputation of the website rather than legal issues. Ugandans also like football, but they also bet on boxing, basketball, horse racing, and other types of sports.
Conclusion
We hope that you have found everything you want to know about betting in Africa. As you see, Africa is a big continent with lots of countries and each country has its own rules regarding betting sites that want to operate there. It’s no wonder, Africa is a big market with millions of potential bettors, and everyone wants to get the attention of these bettors.
