The future of African land-Based casinos: challenges and strategies
In a recent keynote address delivered by Nkopane Tshehla, the Managing Director of Larocure, the focus was on the localisation of African land-based casinos and the challenges they face in the evolving landscape. Tshehla began by emphasizing Africa’s youthful population, with a median age of 19, attributing it to decades of investment in human capital.
Cheshire highlighted the importance of investing in the youth to drive economic emancipation and cultural transformation. President Ramaphosa of South Africa echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the vitality of localisation in stimulating growth and transformation, creating an enabling environment for inclusive growth.
Gaming, he opines, will explode across the African continent, becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry, similar to its growth in the West.
Shifting the focus to land-based casinos, he delved into the historical origins of the casino, tracing it back to a gambling house in Venice in 1638. Over the centuries, the concept evolved into what we now recognize as a real casino. However, he noted that the traditional land-based casino is facing challenges in the modern era.
Identifying challenges such as dwindling footfall, economic downturn, online gambling, government taxes, slow technological advancement, and inflexible regulatory space, He proposed countermeasures to sustain the casino industry. These include investment in research and development (R&D) for the future, localization of casino technology, fostering local identity in technology, and integrating corporate social investment into R&D initiatives.
Tshehla underscored the potential of Africa’s youthful population, citing 716,000 registered gaming developers on the continent. He suggested partnering with and investing in local talent, developing games and hardware that resonate with individual countries. The goal is to create a prototype cabinet, evolving organically over the years, similar to the development of casino slots.
The proposal also included localization in the casino space, urging African developers to create their own casino cabinets. Tshehla emphasized the economic impact, suggesting that giving African developers an opportunity would result in the development of hardware that identifies with local culture.
Furthermore, Tshehla encouraged the integration of corporate social investment into marketing initiatives, utilizing it as a part of enterprise development to sustain the business. He argued that investing in local games and tools of trade would help maintain the social hub aspect of land-based casinos, despite the rise of online gambling.
In conclusion, the future of African land-based casinos, according to Tshehla, lies in an organic growth driven by the proposed strategies. Strengthening the development of software and hardware, fostering a sense of identity, and addressing language barriers through regional languages are key elements in revolutionizing the casino environment in Africa.
