The African Responsible Gaming Network (ARGN) has launched with a remit to strengthen player protection, address gambling-related harm and improve cooperation between responsible gaming stakeholders across Africa.
The network brings together responsible gaming organisations, researchers and treatment specialists from countries inside and outside the continent. Its launch is intended to support a more coordinated response to gambling-related harm as Africa’s online gambling market continues to expand.
Four priorities for the network
The ARGN will focus on four areas:
- Producing a pan-African gambling harm report covering research, emerging trends and evidence from across the continent
- Creating a directory of treatment, recovery and support services for people affected by gambling harm
- Developing policy recommendations and practical measures for regulators and policymakers
- Coordinating awareness and prevention initiatives that can be deployed across multiple African markets
Lebo Seoheng, advocacy and communications manager at the South African Responsible Gaming Foundation, has been appointed president of the ARGN. Seoheng said the market’s expansion made stronger player protection and responsible gambling measures increasingly important.
A shared framework, not one rulebook
GamblePause Initiative Africa founder Ladipo Abiose Akolade is among the network’s founding members. Akolade said the ARGN was created because responsible gambling work remains fragmented, with most initiatives operating within individual countries.
“Problem gambling is becoming a bigger issue across Africa, while responsible gambling efforts are still largely confined to national markets,” Akolade said. “Many organisations are doing valuable work, but there has been limited scope to share research, learn from one another or address common challenges together.”
The network is intended to support existing national organisations and regulators rather than replace them. Akolade said its objective was to establish “common principles rather than identical regulations”, reflecting differences in legal frameworks, cultures and market development across African countries.
Those principles would include protecting minors, offering effective self-exclusion, promoting responsible advertising and ensuring access to support for people affected by gambling harm. The ARGN plans to help turn them into standards that countries can apply according to local conditions.
Minimum standards and enforcement
Akolade said the network wanted to establish minimum player protection standards and move responsible gambling requirements beyond rules that exist only on paper.
The measures it wants to see include stronger age and identity verification, meaningful self-exclusion systems, responsible gambling advertising standards, better access to counselling and treatment, and tougher action against illegal operators.
Akolade said current protections often amounted to responsible gambling messages and surface-level awareness campaigns. The ARGN’s goal is for requirements to become standards that are actively enforced by regulators.
The launch follows the inaugural Africa Safer Gambling Week, hosted earlier this month by the African iGaming Alliance. CEO Peter Kesitilwe said the campaign should create an ongoing basis for cooperation, adding that responsible gambling must be practised throughout the year rather than only during a one-week initiative.
