Nigerian Casino market to mature in 2024, experts Say

Nigeria has the second-largest gambling market in Africa, trailing only behind South Africa in terms of revenue, with an annual worth of $2 billion compared to South Africa’s $2.1 billion. With growing population, emergence of middle class, and tech-savvy players, Nigeria might become the leader in Africa by the time this year ends.

Casino industry experts from markets that have experienced the same stages of growth claim that Nigeria may be on the verge of the gambling market maturing, which would mean that Nigeria will overtake South Africa in 2024 as the biggest gambling market in Africa. Mark Dash, editor-in-chief of DashTickets.nz, says that New Zealand has been progressing through the same stages and is now considered a healthy and mature market, with players who know what they want and what their rights are.

“What Nigeria and New Zealand have in common is an absence of a domestic regulatory body, as well as free access to all gambling websites worldwide, regulated or unregulated. It’s just too much information for one person to process on their own. Websites such as DashTickets are the key to providing information to players and, little by little, educating the market, so in the end everyone knows how to stay safe while gambling”, Mark said.

Revenue in the online casinos segment is projected to reach US$250 million in 2024 and to fall just short of US$350 million by the end of the decade, with a steady growth of 5% every year. The number of users is expected to reach 2 million, in a country with population of 185 million.

As casino gambling in Nigeria is becoming more popular, which is yet another sign of maturing of the market as a whole, many Nigerians are signing up with online casinos for the first time, not knowing whether they’re signing up with a quality casino or a rogue one. This is a common sight whenever new customers are exposed to gambling.

Another common trend is rise in problem gambling, as people who haven’t yet been exposed to gambling start partaking in it for the first time. This often leads to many gamblers’ fallacies and bad decisions that more seasoned gamblers never make, as well as gambling on debt. USA is currently seeing a huge surge of problem gambling as the market opened up after sports betting was illegal for decades and is now available through direct partnerships with ESPN that reach a mainstream auidence. Japan is going through the same thing this year.

Nigeria does not currently have any systematic prevention procedures in place against problem gambling, nor organized help for problem gamblers, since the gambling market is inherently unregulated and players are left alone to make their own choices. As players who aren’t experienced with gambling start placing bets and making their own choices, chances are, problem gambling will emerge as a consequence. Youth is at particular risk.

The rate of problem gambling is estimated to be between 1% and 8% of all gamblers, with 10% to 15% being at risk. With the growing population, penetration of new technologies and maturing of gambling market to include casino, the problem is likely to only increase in the following years. For comparison, just over 1% of New Zealand players are problem gamblers. Interestingly, they account for well over a quarter of the entire gambling losses in the country.

According to Angela Bekederemo, a professional social worker from Lagos, for some people, gambling can develop into a problem that causes severe distress and impairment in their daily lives. According to a recent study of the Nigerian population, 36% of adult respondents had gambled in their life. Many Nigerians see gambling as a harmless pastime, placing small sports bets on a daily basis.

A recent TGM survey found that 9% of Nigerians bet every day, with 33% betting a few times per week, which is the largest group simply because football betting usually only takes place on weekends. What some experts read from this data is that players in Nigeria tend to stick to their gambling activity obsessively, as there are no other countries with sports betting being this prevalent in the general population.

It seems that a perfect storm might be brewing in Nigeria as the inexperience of Nigerian gamblers with casino games, the growth of the market, and the lack of any procedures to alleviate problem gambling converge this year and in coming years. This is why Mark Dash calls for third-party websites that provide information to Nigerian gamblers to be extra responsible and careful about what they write.

“Don’t be greedy, fellow webmasters”, Mark said. “Write truthful reviews of casinos and sportsbooks, and if one of them treats players badly, say it. There will always be some other brand to promote. It is up to you to decide who gets to become popular in Nigeria and who doesn’t.”, Mark concluded.

We can only hope that the market will mature in a way that will make everyone step up their game, from players to third-party websites and to civil organizations that will focus on mitigating gambling harm.