Month: April 2021

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has terminated a platform agreement with an unnamed European media group, having announced the deal last December.

The original deal was for GiG to provide the group with its igaming and data platform, to help power the undisclosed group’s igaming offering under its own licence.

The partnership was based on different fixed fees and a revenue share model, with a minimum contract term of three years.

The European group made wholesale changes in strategy and decided to alter its approach towards operating with its own licence; for this reason, the partnership was seen as no longer viable for either party.

In 2019, GiG decided to not support the white label model and with its potential partner altering its strategy, GiG decided to accept the termination of the agreement.

The termination will not impact GiG’s financial forecasts for 2020 or its long-term financial targets. It explained that the current onboarding of clients has remained strong and it continues to improve its depth in the sales pipeline.

Richard Brown, GiG CEO said: “The change in strategy has led to an impasse for us to move forward together. While unfortunate to terminate this agreement, we wish them well and we continue to move forward on a multitude of our own opportunities”

Despite this setback the group managed to reach agreements with Fast Track and Kaizen Gaming earlier this month.

GiG is also in the habit of signing deals with other companies without naming them, having done so with a German operator back in February.

By Adeleye Awakan – E-play Africa

The coronavirus spread in Nigeria discourages physical banking and fiat money as an exchange in Nigeria. Mobile and USSD transactions in Nigeria surged by 82.6% to stand at 1.69 billion compared to 928.86 million recorded in the previous year.

According to the 2020 instant payment annual statistics, these are recently released by the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in the country. The report also revealed that 78% of total instant payment carried out in Nigeria in 2020 was done using mobile devices. The breakdown of the data released while mobile payment retained its position as the most preferred channel accounting for 43% of the total transactions in 2020.

USSD followed closely at 762.19 million transactions accounting for 35% of the total recorded in the year. The growth is attributed to the move by the Nigerians away from physical channels—closure of most bank branches in the country during the heat of covid-19 pandemic surge. Also, the fear of using fiat currency for not contracting the virus and the timely advocacy to encourage Nigerians to transact through online channels rather than using fiat money for exchange is part of what propels the mobile and USSD transactions in 2020. In terms of year-on-year performance, the volume of mobile transactions grew from 506.16 million in 2019 to 933.66 million in 2020, indicating a surge of about 84.5 per cent YoY. Also, the importance of USSD transactions grew from 422.7 million to 762.19 million, advancing about 80.3 per cent YoY.

The report stated that with approximately 49.5percent smartphone ownership in the country and 97 million mobile internet users, there is a strong indication that mobile and USSD payments will see significant growth in the short-medium term. It also shows between the ages of 25-34 years carried out 36 per cent of all instant interbank payments in 2020. In essence, this indicates that the younger demographic boosted the adoption of instant payment in the review period. Also, 79 per cent of the instant payment transaction in the review year was carried out in the review year by customers between the ages of 15-44 years.

The report’s detail also shows that Lagos State, the commercial nerve maintained the hub for electronic payments accounting for 30 per cent of the total transactions initiated in the country. Others on the list of highest transaction volumes include Abuja (7%), Ogun (6%), Rivers (6%), and Oyo state (5%). And the report also sees 1.37 billion transactions initiated in the year were carried by males representing 72% of the total, while 52.04 million or 28% were females. However, E-Play Africa had reported earlier in March 2021 that the Nigerian apex bank introduced a new high fee for USSD banking transactions that angered customers.

Many criticize this move that it will further discourage the low-income people and negatively impact businesses and the financial inclusion goal to promote a cashless economy. It is interesting to discover the young population embraced mobile and USSD as a means of payment in Nigeria. The significant part is given the influx of mobile phones. They can tout the widespread acceptance of sports betting to have accelerated iGaming betting and gambling during the Covid-19 lockdown.

It is fair enough to assume that mobile and USSD payment growth can be said the iGaming industry contributed a huge chunk of the transaction, given it is the widely accepted form of payment in the country.

The Malawi Gambling Board has called applications for a Casino Licence in Malawi, as well as a (Wide Area Progressive) licence in Malawi. At the same time the Malawi National Lotteries Board has called for applications for Sportsbetting licences to fall under the National Lotteries Act.

 The RFP DETAILS ARE LISTED BELOW FOR EACH CATEGORY:

MALAWI GAMING BOARD 

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR A CASINO LICENCE IN MALAWI 

The Malawi Gaming Board (MGB) is inviting proposals for Licences for Casino development in all locations within Malawi. The call for applications is made in accordance with the provisions of the Gaming Act, 1996 (Act No. 26 of 1996), as amended.

All procedural requirements are stipulated in a Request for Proposal (RFP) document that has been released by the Malawi Gaming Board (MGB). The Request for proposals (RFP) has been issued to provide the relevant guidance to potential bidders and also contains the evaluation criteria that will be applied by the MGB to award the Casino Licence.

The aforesaid RFP can be obtained from the offices of the MGB upon a cash payment of MK 150,000 (One hundred and Fifty Thousand Kwacha) or upon a bank transfer to the MGB’s account.

For further and better particulars, please contact the MGB using the contact details provided below:

The Chief Executive Officer 

Malawi Gaming Board 

Independence drive opposite Namiwawa Primary School 

P. O Box 3062 

BLANTYRE, MALAWI 

Tel: + (265) 1 821 522 

Fax: + (265) 1 821 531 

Email: mgb@gamingboard.org.mw 

 MALAWI GAMING BOARD 

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR A WIDE AREA PROGRESSIVE (WAP) LICENCE IN MALAWI 

The Malawi Gaming Board (MGB) is inviting proposals for Wide Area Progressive (WAP) Licences in Malawi. This is being done in accordance with the provisions of the Gaming Act, 1996 (Act No. 26 of 1996), as amended.

All procedural requirements are stipulated in a Request for Proposal (RFP) document that has been released by the Malawi Gaming Board (MGB). The RFP also contains the evaluation criteria that will be applied by the MGB to award the Licences.

The aforesaid RFP can be obtained from the offices of the MGB upon a cash payment of MK 150,000 (One hundred and Fifty Thousand Kwacha) or upon a bank transfer to the MGB’s account.

For further and better particulars, please contact the MGB using the contact details provided below:

The Chief Executive Officer 

Malawi Gaming Board 

Independence drive opposite Namiwawa Primary School 

P. O Box 3062 

BLANTYRE, MALAWI 

Tel: + (265) 1 821 522 

Fax: + (265) 1 821 531 

Email: mgb@gamingboard.org.mw 

NATIONAL LOTTERIES BOARD 

Invitation to Apply for Sports Betting Licences in Malawi 

The National Lotteries Board (NLB) is inviting proposals for Sports Betting licences in terms of the Lotteries Act (Act No. 9 of 2003). The licences shall be issued under Section 36(2) of the Lotteries Act.

All procedural requirements for submission of a proposal are explained in a Request for Proposal (RFP) document that shall be released by the NLB. The RFP also contains the evaluation criteria that shall be applied by the NLB to award the Sports betting Licence.

The aforesaid RFP can be obtained from the offices of the NLB upon a cash payment of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Kwacha (K 150, 000) or upon a Bank transfer to the NLB’s account.

For further and better particulars, please contact the NLB using the contact details provided below:

The Chief Executive Officer 

Malawi Gaming Board 

Independence drive opposite Namiwawa Primary School 

P. O Box 3062 

BLANTYRE, MALAWI 

Tel: + (265) 1 821 522 

Fax: + (265) 1 821 531 

Email: mgb@gamingboard.org.mw