The Betting Craze in Kenya: Sportpesa beyond Kenya

The Kenyan online gaming company SportPesa has signed a multi-million-pound deal to be an official sponsor of Hull City Tigers.

SportPesa have now signed a three-year deal with Hull City and will have their name and company logo on the Tigers’ home, away and third shirts for the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons according to information posted on the Hull City Tigers’ website.

According to the team’s management, the new sponsorship from SportPesa deal is the most lucrative in the Club’s proud 112-year history.

“We are delighted to form a three-year partnership with SportPesa.” Said Mr Simon King, the Commercial Manager at Hull City Tigers, “SportPesa are so much more than a betting brand, this is a company with a huge footprint across grassroots sports in Kenya, as well as the rest of Africa. The deal is by far the largest in our history and a sign of our ambition to grow our club and become a household name in our sport globally.” He added.

Read: Responsible Gaming Should be Driven on Regulations and Innovation

SportPesa started as a small company way back in 2014 and has tremendously transformed itself to being Africa’s Number One Sports Betting Platform. The company has significantly transformed the betting industry in Kenya as well as turning around the gaming industry in just two years.

SportPesa is also the official sponsor of Kenya’s two most popular clubs – Gor Mahia, who are currently the defending champions of the SportPesa Premier League, and AFC Leopards.

Betting Frenzy in Kenya

Kenya has recently experienced an explosion in terms of the gambling companies. Some academicians have already said that Kenya is turning into a nation of gamblers. Most of the gamblers in the country are the young people who are dedicating much of their time and resources to gambling.

Some of the betting companies are;

• MCheza
• Sportpesa
• Betin
• Betika
• Elite Bet
• Betway
• Kenya Sports Bet
• Eazi Bet
• Betpawa Kenya
• Lotto
• Pambazuka

The betting industry in Kenya has been said to be the most lucrative business in the country at the moment. This begs the question, how much is the gaming industry in Kenya? According to the statistics that were released by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) last year, the annual gross turnover of sports betting industry in Kenya is $20 million (Sh2.1 billion) with analysts saying that by the year 2018, the gambling industry in Kenya would have hit 30 billion shillings in turn of revenue contribution to the economy.

SportPesa for instance, has over 900,000 registered users on its platform. Out of these more than 900,000 active users, more than 80 percent of them are monthly active users. According to analysts, an active user spends and average of 1000 shillings on betting. Doing some simple calculations, an average of 720,000 users are monthly active users and multiplying the number with the average amount, that is 720,000 multiply it by 1000, brings the total income per month to 720 million shillings. Roughly, SportPesa might be making 720 million shillings per month.

Pambazuka National Lottery was the newest entrant into the Kenyan Market. The company was launched on the 10th of July 2016 in an event that was coloured with pomp and colour. This is a lottery that has been said to be tailored towards the corporate social responsibilities in the country though many quarters have disputed the facts. The lottery has a huge jackpot starting at Kshs 100 million with two mini jackpots of Kshs 10 million each. Participants for the Pambazuka National Lottery can play the lottery through the SportPesa platform or by buying their tickets from Pambazuka vendors across the country. After buying the tickets, the participants then wait for the announcement of the draw to see if they are winners.

Already the young generation has taken over the Pambazuka National Lottery by storm. The lottery gives out a price of 10 million shillings weekly meaning that the amount made per week is more than that. Analysts are predicting that Pambazuka is making between 100 million and 200 million shillings per week due to its shift from the normal gaming industry like football to other SCR activities like hospitals.

Lotto on the other hand has been giving the lucky winners a total prize of 100 million shillings. Lotto has been selling tickets from as low as 50 shillings