Hayley Joseph, WA.Technology Director of Operations for Africa,  iGaming Afrika Most Influential Women Interview

WA.Technology’s Regional Director of Operations for Africa, Hayley Joseph, spoke exclusively with iGaming Afrika about being named as one of Africa’s most influential women in the industry, the iGaming landscape across Africa, and what the future holds for WA.Africa.

Can you begin by giving us an overview of your experience in the gambling industry? How did you come to join WA.Technology?  

I first entered the gaming industry close to 20 years ago after getting a job as a commercial manager in a land-based casino. I really enjoyed that experience; it was a great introduction to the world of gambling! After a few years, I transitioned into the LPM market, the limited payout machines you see in pubs and sports bars.

In 2014, I joined Hollywoodbets, where I led the launch of the company’s online mobile betting operations. We then grew into South Africa's largest online betting operator. I later expanded my experience with Hollywoodbets by moving to the UK team, which sparked my passion for learning more about the world of global betting.

I was keen to explore Europe and the UK, which led me to move to Malta, the global hub for iGaming. This is where I became familiar with WA.Technology. Funnily enough, I met the CCO on a flight that happened to be going to the wrong place at the wrong time! Despite the disrupted journey, the stars aligned, and I’ve been working at WA.Technology ever since.

Africa has been highlighted as a key market for WA.Technology. Can you give us an overview of the company’s growth on the continent? Which markets are your top priority?

We’ve had fantastic growth, and it’s a major target for us. In the last few months alone, we’ve signed multiple deals with major brands across several different markets, including Nigeria. We have also secured various agreements that will further drive our expansion across Africa in 2025 and beyond.

We have invested heavily in the market and are fully committed to establishing our footprint here. We have focused on building solid relationships with operators across key jurisdictions. They love what we offer, and I believe our extensive experience across emerging markets will give us a true edge.

We plan to open our first South African office, giving us a central hub to operate. With the proper infrastructure in place, combined with a solid team and extensive industry knowledge, we fully anticipate achieving significant growth.

Regarding markets, we’re watching Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. Given their excellent growth potential, we will focus on these over the coming months.

From that perspective, we’re very excited about our future plans, and you’ll hear plenty more from us. We’re already live with a few partners and have many more partnerships in the pipeline across various African territories. So, stay tuned for plenty more updates!

What would you say is the secret to establishing your position as a market leader in Africa? 

Without giving away too many secrets, you must consider four key factors: flexibility, scalability, modularity, and technology.

At WA.Technology, we offer custom solutions that meet each customer's specific needs. We want to avoid the ”off-the-shelf” approach that you sometimes see from big-brand providers; each of our solutions is tailored to the unique requirements of our operators.

We offer the full spectrum of iGaming solutions, and our team is committed to delivering excellent customer support as we deliver them. This has allowed us to remain attuned to our partners' wants and needs and ensure they consistently are the best.  We have also placed a heavy emphasis on developing new innovations for the industry – and given our expertise as the most premium supplier out there for emerging markets. We can deliver the best that technology has to offer, no matter what the local infrastructure challenges are.

Of course, a local understanding of each market is also essential. Given the broad and diverse continent, you need that boots-on-the-ground knowledge, which comes with experience over the years, to fully understand the unique dynamics at play. Without that, you will struggle to achieve growth.

What are some of the main technology considerations operators must make before expanding their footprint into Africa? And how does this differ across each individual market?  

This first consideration isn’t necessarily technology-focused, but operators must know the taxes within each market. That is a big thing!

Next, you have to focus your core on reliable, mobile-first solutions. As is the case across every continent, each country has different mobile providers. But in Africa, mobile gaming is the dominant platform for bettors. The rise of mobile payments, which has superseded traditional banking in a completely new fintech ecosystem, such as with M-Pesa in Kenya, is also truly unique.

Operators need a provider to adapt to the differing mobile networks, given the different fintech ecosystems in each market. You also need to be able to ensure strong data security. That is a big focus for us. You must guarantee your partners' true peace of mind to be the best.

Of course, we also need to consider tailoring products to local preferences—and this is where our bespoke delivery is the most important. Localisation is essential and a big part of what we offer—be it language, website design, or even products. Our local teams help us gauge a thorough understanding of how best to tailor our products to each market.

Last but not least is agility. Navigating diverse regulatory environments is essential. For instance, a few months back, we had plans to enter Mozambique, but following changes in the regulatory requirements, we had to adapt and pivot our offering very quickly. This emphasised the importance of keeping up to speed with regulatory developments and being as flexible as possible.

Can you outline some of the ways that WA.Technology has localised its offering in different markets.

Personalisation and localised delivery are what we’re best at – and it’s why we’ve become one of LatAm’s most sought-after providers, with our team boasting more than 20 years of experience in the market. Africa is no different, and in many ways – you need to be even more adaptable. We’ve had particular success with this in Nigeria already, where we have signed a handful of partnerships – all of which have seen us deliver completely bespoke solutions for each partner.

As we’ve touched on already, that also means we have integrated—and plan to further integrate—popular local payment methods and aggregators. Africa is huge and massively diverse, and to do that, we need to make sure we offer products that are mobile-first to match user habits and that our entire product portfolio aligns with local preferences.

That means different sports, different types of lottery and numbers game formats, differing versions of casino games, and most importantly – products that can fit each unique mobile infrastructure environment and retail scene.

Compared to other markets and regions that WA.Technology operates in, what are the biggest differences in terms of player behaviours and demands from partners? Have you found that partners are demanding one particular product in Africa compared to elsewhere? 

As someone who has operated on the continent for nearly two decades, I can promise you plenty! We know that players tend to favour big-leg multiples for sports betting, especially football and European leagues. This is very different from, say, LatAm, where you see far more focus on local teams and heavy betting on the low-odds favourites.

As we all know, the major unique factor in Africa is the ever-increasing popularity of online numbers games and lotteries. Of course, they’ve always been dominant in retail – but you’re now seeing that transition online like never before.

So, with that, the betting format makes it so popular. Bet small and win big. Again – that’s vastly different to LatAm, where you’ll see more focus on level staking on lower margin products such as live casino. Another reason crash games have taken off so strongly is the ability to stake small amounts and potentially walk away with a fortune. 

What’s going to be unique is the growth of online slots. We’ve already seen how much potential this has given its meteoric rise in South Africa, with all the big-name studios now on the scene. How that develops across the rest of the continent will be fascinating, and we’ll be at the forefront of it.

Looking to the future, where do you believe the biggest opportunities for growth will be in Africa?

Now, that is a tricky question! We are currently focusing on many markets across Africa, and each has the potential for massive growth over the next few years.

Personally, I find markets such as Angola very interesting. It is still a very young market but is experiencing significant growth, primarily driven by a surge in mobile gaming and increasing internet penetration. 

Then there are markets such as Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia, all of which have huge potential. Most recently, Egypt has also captured my attention. This is shaping into an exciting market and one worth watching.

As a platform provider, we see potential in offering a localised, mobile-friendly solution incorporating local payment methods and innovations specific to that market. We have been working hard to bring our knowledge and expertise to operators across the continent.

If I had to make a prediction for the next few months, I think that live betting, virtual sports, and lottery-style games will really drive engagement, especially as more players come online. These verticals are areas that operators really need to focus on.

The African market, as a whole, has the potential to become a major hub for gambling over the next few years. The region is undergoing significant changes, and at WA.Technology, we are very excited to be a part of that journey as we continue to deliver our full spectrum of iGaming solutions to operators across the continent!

Read the full interview with Hayley at iGaming Afrika. 

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