Driving real-time growth: Africa's mobile payments and scale- Part 2
As Africa’s iGaming market continues to accelerate, the second part of our conversation with Tola Mobile CPO Simon Pepper delves deeper into the technical, regulatory, and behavioural forces shaping real-time payment experiences across the African continent. From fraud safeguards to cross-border opportunities, Pepper unpacks what operators must prepare for as mobile money evolves and competition intensifies.
Regulatory pressures affecting mobile money
African markets continue to introduce new levies and policy changes that affect transaction costs. Pepper discusses how Tola adapts its systems to help operators remain compliant while preserving a seamless experience for players.
SiGMA: In light of proposed mobile money transaction taxes like Senegal’s 0.5% levy, how does Tola prepare iGaming operators for potential regulatory changes that could raise the cost of player deposits and withdrawals?
Simon: Tola focuses on the payment rails, initiating the correct transactions to collect the desired amount and pay out when requested, maintaining a real-time, frictionless process for a player and the operator. If taxes are to be included, they are either included in the amounts collected or deducted before being paid out. In general, when tax or regulatory changes are introduced, if we can help, we do. For instance, facilitating daily tax payments, access to the payment transaction data for validation & reporting purposes.
Mobile-first adoption in Africa
With mobile money dominating local payment behaviour, iGaming payment design must reflect real-world user habits. Pepper explores how mobile-first interactions shape Tola’s product philosophy and support higher conversion and faster bet placement.
SiGMA: You’ve said that mobile money is “the de facto payment method” in Sub-Saharan Africa. From your product perspective, how has this “mobile-first” adoption shaped how you design payment flows for iGaming?
Simon: In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money is the de facto way people transact, and that has shaped our product design philosophy from the ground up. More than 80% of all transactions we see come from mobile handsets, so every payment flow we design is optimised for a mobile-first experience.
That means starting with the handset journey, not the desktop. We prioritise short, simple interaction paths, clear instructions, minimal data entry, and flows that work reliably across a variety of devices, screen sizes, and network conditions – including low bandwidth and intermittent connectivity, which are common in parts of the region.
We also design around the realities of mobile money behaviour. Many payments involve switching between apps, approving a push notification, or interacting through USSD or SMS. Our job is to make those transitions feel smooth and predictable for the player, so there is no confusion about what they need to do next.
For iGaming operators, a frictionless mobile journey directly impacts conversion and bet velocity. If a player can deposit quickly on their handset, without delays or unclear steps, their ability to place a stake in real time is dramatically improved. So mobile-first design is not just about form factor – it is core to driving performance for our operators.
Tola Mobile’s integration & API
Building a platform that supports more than 55 mobile money technologies across 23 countries is no small task. Pepper walks through the technical realities of scaling integrations and why real-time performance demands long-term investment.
SiGMA: Tola’s API supports mobile money wallets across more than 55 technologies in 23 countries. What technical or product challenges did you face in building a platform that integrates so widely, especially for real-time iGaming use cases?
Simon: Integrating mobile money across 23 countries and more than 55 different technologies has been one of the biggest product and engineering challenges we’ve tackled. The reality is that every region is different, and even operators within the same group – whether it’s Airtel, MTN, Vodacom, or Orange Money – behave differently. There is very little reusability between integrations, so each connection has to be built, tested, and hardened as a completely standalone piece of work.
There are no shortcuts in this space. It takes months of engineering effort per operator, deep local understanding, and long-term relationships with the mobile money providers. That’s why it has taken more than a decade to reach the coverage we have today.
We see a lot of companies attempting to build broad mobile money connectivity, and the pattern is always the same: it takes longer than expected, costs more than planned, and in many cases, the projects never get to full scale. That is why most operators eventually conclude that mobile money infrastructure is something you buy rather than build.
For iGaming specifically, the challenge is even bigger because deposits and withdrawals must be real-time, reliable, and accurate. Any delay affects bet placement or payouts. Our years of investment in independent operator integrations, monitoring, failover and routing logic are what make that real-time experience possible.
Future risks and opportunities
As the market evolves, so do the opportunities that real-time mobile money brings to operators. Simon Pepper shares his perspective on the industry’s direction, from cross-border growth to the enduring dominance of mobile wallets in African iGaming.
SiGMA: With rising fraud risks, growing cross-border payments, and evolving regulation, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for mobile payments in Africa’s iGaming industry over the next couple of years?
Simon: The biggest opportunity over the next few years comes from the continued growth of real-time mobile money and how it enables faster, safer and more transparent iGaming experiences for mass-market players.
Cross-border payments will grow in importance for international operators, but for in-region, licensed betting companies, the core advantage remains the same: they are trusted because they operate local merchant accounts, pay out locally, and are regulated by the authorities that players recognise. That trust is crucial in Africa, where most users would rather transact with a regulated local operator than move money to an offshore entity.
Card payments will continue to play only a minor role because card penetration remains low and cards can’t support withdrawals. The real opportunity is in mobile money itself. Its real-time nature and direct settlement capability allow instant deposits, instant payouts, and even the possibility of transactional betting without a traditional account, while still identifying the player through their payment credentials. As reliability improves and regulators continue to encourage safer, more transparent payment flows, mobile money will remain the most powerful engine of growth for African iGaming.
Africa’s iGaming force is rising, and Cape Town’s shaping the continent’s future. From 03–05 March 2026, SiGMA Africa will bring together 3,000 delegates, 780 operators, and 150+ speakers to the table. This isn’t hype. It’s happening. Don’t sleep on it.
