POKER IN AFRICA

Africa, the “Black Continent”, is somewhat lagging behind the world in economic performance. Out of the inhabited continents, it has been ranking last in terms of per capita GDP for decades. It even fell below 1 fifth of the world average in 2021.

Evidently, this shows in their gambling industry’s numbers as well. In 2018, Egypt produced the most in gaming revenue in Africa, $293 million. For comparison, in 2019, Italy topped that list in Europe – with €18.1 billion…

Part of the reason for this is the lack of consumer spending power for the locals. If they don’t have money to play with, they’re not going to the casino. However, some countries outright ban games of chance, for religious or political reasons; while others, like the aforementioned Egypt or Tunisia, only allow foreign tourists to gamble on their land.

The most permissive country in terms of gambling is perhaps South Africa. They’ve also hosted major live poker tournaments, such as the Monster Jam Poker Tour, WPT DeepStacks, and even WSOP Africa events. Another prominent African tournament series is the Dakar Poker Tour held in Dakar, Senegal.

Governments tend to be less restrictive when it comes to online poker. However, there, we’re faced with another major issue for African players: internet access. Only 39.3% of Africans have access to the internet, far below the 58.8% world average.