IBIA report flags Africa's progress in global report
Africa’s booming betting market is drawing global attention — not only for its rapid revenue growth, but also for rising integrity scrutiny. A report by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) shows the continent accounted for 10% of worldwide suspicious betting alerts in 2025, underscoring both opportunity and risk.
Africa accounted for 10% of all suspicious betting alerts reported in 2025, according to the latest Sports Betting Integrity Report released by the International Betting Integrity Association. The global integrity body recorded 300 suspicious betting alerts across 16 sports during the reporting period. Of those, 31 alerts were linked to Africa’s market with 19 alerts linked to football events, placing the continent behind Europe and several other regions in terms of flagged activity.
Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire lead alert counts
Cameroon recorded the highest number of alerts in Africa with five cases. Côte d’Ivoire followed with four alerts. Single alerts were recorded in Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.
Football remained the most reported sport globally, continuing its trend as the primary focus of integrity monitoring.
While the report does not isolate Africa by sport category in detail, football dominates alert volumes worldwide and is heavily represented across African betting markets. Europe accounted for 35% of all alerts globally, maintaining its position as the region with the highest share of suspicious betting notifications.
Rapid market growth increases integrity pressure
The report highlights that Africa’s betting market is entering a phase of accelerated expansion. Analysts project that Africa’s total betting gross gambling revenue (GGR) will grow from US$3.5 billion in 2021 to US$19.4 billion by 2030. They expect online betting to drive most of this expansion, pushing online GGR to US$16.4 billion by 2030.
Land-based betting revenue is also forecast to increase, rising from US$1.4 billion to US$3 billion over the same period.
Within the continent, South Africa is expected to command the largest market share, accounting for 29% of total betting GGR. Nigeria and Ghana are also identified as significant contributors to Africa’s betting economy.
Expanding monitoring footprint
IBIA’s monitoring network tracks more than US$300 billion in annual betting turnover globally. The association helps to provide regulators and law enforcement agencies with suspicious activity information for investigation and sanctions. The appearance of African alerts in the global dataset represents the growth of the market as well as the increased integration of African operators into global monitoring systems.
With the increase in betting volumes on mobile and online platforms in Africa, the report indicates that integrity systems must keep pace with the growth of the market. The 31 alerts may not be a large proportion of the global total, but the numbers reflect the continent’s rising profile in the global sports betting landscape.
With revenue projected to multiply more than fivefold before 2030, Africa’s betting sector is expected to remain under scrutiny from regulators and integrity bodies alike.
An ever-evolving continent
With betting revenues projected to surge to US$19.4 billion by 2030, Africa stands at a pivotal moment. The market is expanding at speed, but so is the need for sharper oversight. As integrity monitoring tightens, the continent’s next chapter will depend on balancing explosive growth with credible safeguards.
Borders may define geography, but not opportunity. From 03–05 March 2026, SiGMA Africa connects leaders from across the continent to exchange insight, forge partnerships and chart Africa’s growth cycle. See you in Cape Town.
