Data-Free Betting in Africa – Free Internet for Gambling?

[Mia Chloe]

I came across something interesting in the African gambling scene: several betting companies (like Betika in Kenya with their “Bila Bundles”) are now offering data-free betting. Meaning, you can place bets on their apps without using up your mobile data.

Like you equally mentioned in your post it's just another marketing scheme for them to use as an edge to increase their number of users or customers. Because of mostly online gambling, the gambling ecosystem has become very saturated and majority of them are making moves to make them stand out.

The thing is some people may see it as an opportunity to use that particular casino more often but on the other hand I wouldn't say it will fuel addiction simply because someone who is able to deposit in a casino would not also find it difficult to get a subscription to browse that same casino.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

For me, it shows how far gambling firms will go to grab market share. They know people might skip betting if data is expensive, so they remove that barrier completely. Good business move, but socially… questionable.

What do you guys think?

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?

First of all, thanks for sharing this update, it's one I've not heard of or read about anywhere before now, and I am even surprised to see that Nigeria is counted among the countries where this data free gambling is scheduled to operate..

For me, I would neither tag this move as an innovation, nor will I consider it as exploitation since even while placing bets is made free, casinos are not forcing any one to take advantage of the offer, those who interested in gambling are the ones who is or will be taking advantage of such opportunities.
This is nothing other than a marketing tactics, offering data free gambling to gamblers will encourage more gambling activities in any region where the offer is avaliable, and would also attract even new gamblers in to the system, my only problem with this is that it definitely will increase the number of addicted gamblers in every region where it's data free to gamble.

[sokani]

It's a nice initiative. However, I'm surprised Betika is available in my country and yet I've not heard about it before now.

- Is this a form of predatory marketing, making it too easy for people to bet?

I don't see it that way. The betting industry is highly competitive and making the betting platform data-free is just a marketing strategy to attract more gamblers.

- Should regulators allow “free internet” only for gambling apps while other services still cost?

In my country, services like Facebook is data-free, but it has a data limit or cap.

[Ojinga]

The truth is that, every business wants to stay in the market and marketing strategy is of high essence to every business.
I have not heard of the data free betting but I think it’s a welcome development for people who would want to gamble but can’t access data or in a very remote location.
I have been on a side that, we don’t have to blame casinos for the way people gamble because I think just as they also do a lot of promotions to get customers, they also give a lot of warning against gambling as well and over the time, I also noticed that some people don’t take out the time to read the terms and contains if a casino before jumping into it and if recent, I tried registering with a casino and the first prompt  I got after installing the app was that, “NO GAMBLING, NO PROBLEM” I could not help but laugh the hell out of myself because even the house knows, there’s problem the moment we begin gambling.

[robelneo]

What do you guys think?

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?

Since a casino is the one doing this, I consider it both an innovation and an exploitation. Anything that a casino can exploit or innovate to entice new players to come and bet, they will do it for their platforms. If this is something that helps gamblers play, then they have found a valuable marketing feature.

Some African countries offer prepaid data plans that cost anywhere from $0.50 to $3.00 per 1 GB. It's not particularly costly, but it can be considered a perk for bettors and an attraction for newcomers to try these casinos. This strategy may be employed by other local casinos where internet access is costly.

[Obim34]

Since a casino is the one doing this, I consider it both an innovation and an exploitation. Anything that a casino can exploit or innovate to entice new players to come and bet, they will do it for their platforms. If this is something that helps gamblers play, then they have found a valuable marketing feature.

Some African countries offer prepaid data plans that cost anywhere from $0.50 to $3.00 per 1 GB. It's not particularly costly, but it can be considered a perk for bettors and an attraction for newcomers to try these casinos. This strategy may be employed by other local casinos where internet access is costly.

How do you mean exploitation, if the company will be covering the data fee for their users in order for them to have free internet acess to their site, it is a big innovation and enhancement, every company are trying to sell their service, if they are not stealing from users they do no wrong.

Our device are useless without data, even the poorest of individual can afford data, the cheapest data can be bought in megabyte, i don't think the innovation will make any difference, i haven't met any gambler that complained about not having enough subscription to gamble, if the betting company should pay for free internet it is a waste of marketing resource.

[Su-asa]

I came across something interesting in the African gambling scene: several betting companies (like Betika in Kenya with their “Bila Bundles”) are now offering data-free betting. Meaning, you can place bets on their apps without using up your mobile data.

How does it work? Basically, the telcos and betting apps make special deals:

- The betting app’s traffic is zero-rated (not charged to the user).
- Sometimes the betting company itself pays the telco for the data, so the user sees it as “free.”

This is spreading fast, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia. For many users in rural or low-income areas where data is expensive, it’s an easy way to gamble online.

Sounds clever for business, but it also raises questions:

- Is this a form of predatory marketing, making it too easy for people to bet?
- Should regulators allow “free internet” only for gambling apps while other services still cost?
- And could this model spread to other industries (or even crypto apps) where access is limited by data costs?

For me, it shows how far gambling firms will go to grab market share. They know people might skip betting if data is expensive, so they remove that barrier completely. Good business move, but socially… questionable.

What do you guys think?

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?


https://focusgn.com/africa/data-free-betting-revolutionises-africas-online-gambling-scene

This is a cleaver idea for business, like we already know that many businesses are looking forward for people to use their services, so long as they get traffic on their business they don't have any problems. Actually this is just another strategy that this betting platform is using to get more customers from different countries in the African continent. The government have nothing to do in this kind of deal, only the telecon and the betting platform have the deals. Besides I'm sure that the gambling platform pays for the free data that their gamblers are using to access the gambling platform.

[OgNasty]

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?

It sounds like a bit of both if we're being honest.  Some company gets to provide internet while at the same time paying for it with gambling services.  I'm sure there are people who get to use the internet and don't gamble, which is a positive.  However, I'm also sure this leads more people to gambling, and many of them probably can't afford to be spending money on entertainment, so that is bad.  Africa needs some sort of development though.  If gambling is how it has to be done, then so be it.

[Slow death]

o easy for people to bet?
- Should regulators allow “free internet” only for gambling apps while other services still cost.

Regulators has nothing to do on a casino providing free internet for their gamblers using their app because the casino pays the bills. This is a marketing strategy from Betika by ending the barrier of lack of data that can prevent a gambler for accessing their casino whenever he wants to gamble. I will try it out. I hope this is not another form of shilling.

Maybe the government has something to do with this. If they allowed it to happen, that means they’re supporting it. But with easy access to gambling, it will only lead to more addiction. So if the government supports it, that tells me they don’t see gambling addiction as a serious problem in the country, or they’re just ignoring the fact that this kind of easy access could cause addiction to rise.

But why would the government get involved in business between private companies and follow the law? It doesn't make sense. If gambling is legal there, gambling companies are legal, and communications companies are also legal, then there's nothing wrong with a gambling company doing business with a telecommunications company. If other companies, schools, or private hospitals want to offer free internet, they can also make agreements or deals with the telecommunications company.

I think we can't always think about gambling addiction, because it's impossible not to have some case of addiction. There's nothing that doesn't have a negative side for people, even at work. When people work excessively, they become sick or addicted to work.

[Orpichukwu]

Sounds clever for business, but it also raises questions:
- Is this a form of predatory marketing, making it too easy for people to bet?
- Should regulators allow “free internet” only for gambling apps while other services still cost?
- And could this model spread to other industries (or even crypto apps) where access is limited by data costs?

I consider this a good one, at least, since it gives gamblers a free passive to come and spend their money. With or without them offering such, there are still gamblers who will still gamble irrespective of how expensive data appears to be.

Not only will this help in placing bets, but also for those who like streaming some games online, this will be another good opportunity to stream for free directly from the gambling site since most of them offer live match streams.

And whether governments should allow it or not, they should; these people are just doing their business and saving the citizen from extra cost. At the same time, the company will still send out tax at the end of the day, and when one organisation or sector starts something and it works to drag traffic, we should expect others to join them sooner or later. All business people care about is how to make money.

[Maslate]

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?

It sounds like a bit of both if we're being honest.  Some company gets to provide internet while at the same time paying for it with gambling services.  I'm sure there are people who get to use the internet and don't gamble, which is a positive.  However, I'm also sure this leads more people to gambling, and many of them probably can't afford to be spending money on entertainment, so that is bad.  Africa needs some sort of development though.  If gambling is how it has to be done, then so be it.

On the side of the gambling industry, it’s never really exploitation as they’re in the business to make profit by providing entertainment through gambling. As long as the government approves it, what they’re doing is legal.

The real exploitation comes from the government’s side. If they know this kind of setup can lead to more gambling addiction and still allow easy access, then they’re the ones turning it into exploitation.

[M47AK16]

When something is offered for free then we are the price here

But, what about if the thing is not free? Some are still able to afford it because they want it and problems occur with this too. Not all free has a higher risk but it only depends on the condition.

because if they can't even afford the data which is pretty cheap then how can we expect them to be a responsible gambler like only bet what they can afford to lose.

Not all has the same financial status. We think some thing is only cheap but that is because we can afford it but others simply can't. But being poor can in fact make one responsible. For example me. I am only a poor boy and mainly relying on a casino bonus to play gambling. I don't get greedy but just withdraw once the money reach the minimum withdrawal because I can buy good things already with that money. One of it is internet promo, so I like their idea there. I'd be happy if the same thing exist in ours as well.

[Solosanz]

It won't affect much when most people now can afford electricity and internet package.

You can imagine if you're living in poor place and you not even able to afford internet package, I doubt that you can afford to buy a cell phone because your financial must be very bad.

So, it's like hoping a poor people who not have a cell phone to gamble, having free internet package isn't enough.

[Hazink]

It sounds like a bit of both if we're being honest.  Some company gets to provide internet while at the same time paying for it with gambling services.  I'm sure there are people who get to use the internet and don't gamble, which is a positive.  However, I'm also sure this leads more people to gambling, and many of them probably can't afford to be spending money on entertainment, so that is bad.  Africa needs some sort of development though.  If gambling is how it has to be done, then so be it.

Africa needs development, and what the gambling industry is offering doesn't look like one to me. Instead, it shows how desperate the industry can be in terms of retaining its customers, since the amount people will spend on data can't be compared to the amount they will wager on the casino, they will rather go with providing free access to the casino in order to get those customers going. It's pure business here I don't see any sort of development that they are offering, they are just fighting so hard to retain the customers over losing them to local traditional casino.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

- Is this a form of predatory marketing, making it too easy for people to bet?

This is actually a form of strategic marketing, by offering solution to the common excuses gamblers would have said as the reason why they didn't gamble that day. Because, thou it also seems like a trap for those who could fall victim of gambling addictions, but it's also a win-win for those that will gamble responsibly, as it saves them the stress of always looking for data, any te they wish to gamble. Because we also have something similar to that here in Nigeria from "Facebook" users too, popularly known as "Facebook Free Mode" for the common people who can't afford Data.

- Should regulators allow “free internet” only for gambling apps while other services still cost?

You just said it yourself, it is the casino companies itself who are paying for the free internet connections for it's users to enable them have free access.

- And could this model spread to other industries (or even crypto apps) where access is limited by data costs?

Yes, if the crypto industries can implement this same strategy by collaborating with Telecom companies to offer free access to it's exchange or casino, it will drastically increase it's number of users. Which will also result to more profits.

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?

Depending on the angle you look at it, because inasmuch as you gamble responsibly and not allow yourself to get carried away, since it's internet access is free. There is absolutely nothing bad with it.

[Findingnemo]

because if they can't even afford the data which is pretty cheap then how can we expect them to be a responsible gambler like only bet what they can afford to lose.

Not all has the same financial status. We think some thing is only cheap but that is because we can afford it but others simply can't. But being poor can in fact make one responsible. For example me. I am only a poor boy and mainly relying on a casino bonus to play gambling. I don't get greedy but just withdraw once the money reach the minimum withdrawal because I can buy good things already with that money. One of it is internet promo, so I like their idea there. I'd be happy if the same thing exist in ours as well.

You do it in a smart way but let's not forget the actual reason why they give this kind of promotion which is only because some of them can't afford to pay for the internet so we pay them and let's hook them into gambling and see whether we can get the rewards. As I said nothing comes free which is why casino that offers bonus with no deposit has high wagering requirement that is close to impossible to complete and withdraw the funds from it and it's understandable because casino is just a business and they try everything to be profitable and it's the individual's responsibility to control our actions.

[Oluwa-btc]

It sounds like a two sided  feature, an exploitation on one hand and an innovation on the other hand because it's favourable to those countries that are licensed by the government and legal that way they would enjoy the free access to the internet and gamble as much as they want but on the contrary by exploitation it's a way the gambling sites tend to exploit users by having this as bait for a come back.

[Cantsay]

I’d say it’s an innovation and not an exploitation, I don’t see anything bad in that. We should keep in mind that gambling is just a business, and if a business implements something to help them get more customers which in turn increases their revenue, I don’t see anything wrong in that.

If I’m being honest, I don’t think I have seen any other business that has this implemented in their system and I’d like to see it spread to other businesses too especially banking services because there are lots of times when you’ll get stuck because you don’t have data and you need to access your banking app to make a transaction - businesses like that should also take a look at this and make good use of it.

[Patikno]

It is a really good marketing technique from betting companies. It will make it easier for users or potential users to access the entertainment sites they provide. And I don't see any problem as long as the government is involved. The government can create good policies regarding this matter. The government can control its people or their social life. For example, the government can access statistical data. So, I think it will be okay as long as the government has good policies regarding this, especially if the government provides good guidance or education regarding gambling. Cmiiw.

[Davidvictorson]

I came across something interesting in the African gambling scene: several betting companies (like Betika in Kenya with their “Bila Bundles”) are now offering data-free betting. Meaning, you can place bets on their apps without using up your mobile data.

How does it work? Basically, the telcos and betting apps make special deals:

- The betting app’s traffic is zero-rated (not charged to the user).
- Sometimes the betting company itself pays the telco for the data, so the user sees it as “free.”

This is spreading fast, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia. For many users in rural or low-income areas where data is expensive, it’s an easy way to gamble online.

Sounds clever for business, but it also raises questions:

- Is this a form of predatory marketing, making it too easy for people to bet?
- Should regulators allow “free internet” only for gambling apps while other services still cost?
- And could this model spread to other industries (or even crypto apps) where access is limited by data costs?

For me, it shows how far gambling firms will go to grab market share. They know people might skip betting if data is expensive, so they remove that barrier completely. Good business move, but socially… questionable.

What do you guys think?

Is data-free betting innovation or exploitation?


https://focusgn.com/africa/data-free-betting-revolutionises-africas-online-gambling-scene

This is the most craziest thing I have read today and it sounds oddly funny. I am assuming that the people who will jump on this is because they do  not have the money to pay for mobile internet but they will have the money to make a bet on a game. How crazy does this sound. Even though the gambling operators will likely defend themselves and say that they are not forcing the people to gamble yet, they are creating a way for them to become easily addicted to gambling because it will lead them to reckless and irresponsible gambling. I do not know the full details of this but in my estimation, this is all shades of wrong.