The SiGMA Africa gaming conference was a major event that occurred earlier this year, with 2,500 delegates and 150 speakers as well as many other industry figures. As one of the largest and most prestigious gaming conferences in Africa, insights from the event are always invaluable.
Here are some of the insights gained by one of the attendants, Unipesa.
Forecasting Payment Trends in Gaming
Unipesa’s Chief Commercial Officer Vasily Raku stated that gaming brands are entering the market at a faster rate than ever before, adding that this would change the nature of the payment industry and gaming.
“With the increasing penetration of the internet, more and more gaming brands will seek to enter the African markets. This will stimulate rapid growth in the payment infrastructure in the region.”
Raku states that while this will help grow fintech as a whole, the progress can be a double-edged sword.
“A large number of raw and incompetent payment solutions will emerge. This is already happening. Just ask existing bookmakers how much suffering some of the payment aggregators cause.”
Due to the emergence of potentially sub-standard payment solutions, companies that focus on quality services are likely to prevail due to advantages in compliance, customer satisfaction, and overall financial security.
Africa is a New Hub for Gaming Services
According to Raku, Africa is becoming a hub for gaming service operators. Economic growth in the region is attracting global operators, and business events like SiGMA Africa are, of course, ideal meeting places for them.
Of course, there are many challenges when it comes to entering this market. Regulations can be unclear and vary from place to place, payment infrastructure is limited in some regions, and player behaviour is always a factor as well.
“Unipesa has significant experience in this matter while providing technical solutions for local PSPs and we recommend starting expansion from the East African market,” says Raku.
He added that countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria have adequate payment infrastructure, and player behavior can be considered predictable. He pointed out that gaming platforms such as BetConstruct and bet-b2b.com, both of which have already integrated Unipesa’s payment solutions, were in attendance along with many other major players, highlighting the appeal from a networking point of view.
What is Unipesa?
Unipesa is a complete White Label solution for e-payment processing and financial services in the Middle East and Africa. The organization can help new payment providers go to market in just 5 days under their own branded point-of-sale service including integration for card payments, mobile payments, and more.
Unipesa is currently active in over 10 countries and is expanding into 20 more. With over 10 payment service providers licensed by the central banks of various African nations, Unipesa has processed over $100 million worth of transactions for client companies. Over 50 integrated payment channels with over 1,000 agents and 200 merchants now operating using the Unipesa platform.
In today’s competitive climate, the benefit for payment providers of getting to market in just 5 days cannot be overstated. To contact Unipesa about their services, get in touch at info@unipesa.com.
