Mark Schmidt, Head of Sales at EveryMatrix Africa argues that for too long providers have overpromised and underdelivered across regulated iGaming markets in Africa. He says that EveryMatrix, on the other hand, is committed to giving operators and players the experiences they deserve.
The last five years have been dominated by the ‘will they, won’t they’ stories around Brazil, the world’s tenth largest economy, regulating. Meanwhile, Africa, a continent of 54 countries, has been making rapid progress away from the headlines but should be taken just as seriously.
This is why, for the last two years, at EveryMatrix we’ve been laying down the foundations for future, long-term growth, first with a base in Tanzania and now with a new soon-to-open office in Durban, South Africa.
While our presence is global, we always think local. The success we continue to foster is built from an understanding that every market is unique from its regulatory framework and operator requirements to its players’ needs.
Image: EveryMatrix
A lot has been written and said about localisation by nearly all European providers entering Africa, but what have they actually done? The answer to this is simple. Very little.
After our acquisition of FSB last summer, we met with the brands that would be switching over to our technology. The feedback, not from start-ups but from established, local tier-one operators, was unanimous; that EveryMatrix offers exactly what they need. If you’re looking for a vote of confidence, it doesn’t get better than this.
Many of our competitors have come to Africa professing to their customers that they are ‘ready to go’ with a ‘fully localised’ offering, but in reality, they have been unprepared and overpromised. Unlike them, we are fully committed to investing in a long-term strategy with teams in both Tanzania and in Durban.
Our new South Africa office will offer a truly localised and tailored approach; we have hired local experts who are well-versed in what brands and their players want, who speak the language and who will be there to help operators grow and deliver next-generation betting and gaming experiences.
EveryMatrix’s platform technology has been built to adapt based on individual market requirements and, with such a wide tapestry of territories in Africa, we’re confident this bespoke approach will project us into a market-leading position here in the years to come.
Our FSB acquisition, which had several existing African customers, has opened up multiple opportunities to migrate those brands to our technology, providing them with additional products they were previously unable to access and to grow our footprint further in the region.
We’ve been in Africa for several years but we’re using the acquisition to accelerate our reach with new customers, accessing new and growing existing markets, while cementing our reputation as the region’s fastest growing iGaming provider.
We’re one of the only providers that can offer African brands a proven, next generation alternative set of advanced technologies and operator/customer experiences.
In 2024 alone we reached a record €782m GGR in casino, a 33% YoY increase, processing over 73 billion game rounds, while sports GGR surged 115% YoY to €160m showing just how much we contribute to our customers’ growth.
We can demonstrably prove that the ‘EveryMatrix Effect’ has propelled the growth of multiple global brands from mid-market positions to today’s market leaders in their countries and we fully expect to see the same pattern emerge with brands we work with in Africa.
Many operators in Africa, those using legacy providers, have been left behind with outdated platforms unable to cope with increasing internet and mobile penetration, the advancement of digital technology and customers demanding more modern entertainment experiences for their money. A more connected world brings with it higher player expectations and the industry here isn’t currently meeting those.
Brands and their customers have put up with legacy technologies, outdated experiences and a lack of scalability for far too long.
This can and is about to change. We feel the time is right for positive disruption, bringing winning products, proven platforms and new features to an African market eager to evolve.
If we look at South Africa, much of the market is using a one size fits all solution, with the only real differentiator being a few cosmetic colour changes on the front-end. How are these operators supposed to grow their market share with this approach?
Take horse racing for example. It’s a staple product for South African betting but for years operators have been using overpriced, underperforming technology including late ‘before the off’ feeds and punters have only been able to access outdated experiences. What is the point of offering a horse racing feed that is catered to the UK player? Very little thought is behind this, and it comes down to lack of understanding by the provider and the operators having limited choice in what they use.
We’re close to launching our own proprietary horse racing platform product that has been designed and reinvented for today’s players. The FSB team has years of experience working in Africa and, combined with our OddsMatrix platform technology, we have developed a solution that we believe will have a hugely positive impact on operator revenues and player experiences.
OddsMatrix is a product that empowers operators through pricing control, mass event coverage, front end customisation and real time, automated bonusing. We process up to 1.5 million bets a day to demonstrate our ability to meet the challenges of scalability in a region that is dominated by huge bet volumes so with years of experience and local knowledge we’re ready to roll this out.
For too long operators in Africa have had to deal with providers based in Europe with little understanding of the iGaming landscape in Africa. Having a physical presence here allows us to build face-to-face relationships and reinforce the message that EveryMatrix plans to play a significant role in the region.
The play from some of the European providers is to promise the world to operators in Africa, sign them up and then pretend that they don’t exist. Our African team is hands-on, meeting with our clients to get first-hand feedback and build on relationships. We aren’t here to make a quick buck and leave, we are here to stay.
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