Africa: trends, in-vogue games and innovation to come An exclusive interview with QTech Games’ Head of Region – EMEA, Ekaterina Mayorova

The African opportunity

Not unlike the unfolding scene in LatAm, Africa maps a wider patchwork quilt of potential breakout markets that remain rich with possibilities and present QTech Games with opportunities to build on our considerable international expansion over recent years. Naturally, there will be up-and-coming giants still to show their true potential, but Nigeria and Kenya are the biggest players on this continent and are still growing, while South Africa is the biggest market in Africa on the regulated side.

However, over-simplification or narrow-minded fixation across such an eclectic continental spread is dangerous. Of course, by their very nature, emerging markets are highly fragmented and that’s an inescapable reality. Speaking from a broader vantage point, time was when six or seven markets would be an attractive proposition for international presence for a global betting brand. Yet, in the current cycle, we’re witnessing the emergence of lots of national champions who are not globally-centralised operators. It stands to reason. After all, almost every country has their own form of regulation, with variables oscillating around return to player, tax rates, marketing restrictions and market-access restrictions to name but a few.

The aforementioned trend for operators’ management teams partnering with local brands is escalating. Therefore, it’s no wonder that many have found it easier to support local leaders or the best platforms with the necessary local expertise. What matters is knowing the customer, meeting them in their respective communication game (i.e. user interface familiarity, native language) with a host of localisation techniques. And at QTech Games, while we invariably plan globally, we always act locally.

Innovation for the market

Making it in this evolving ecosystem requires agile strategizing, coupled to tech innovation, and happily these are two cornerstone philosophies of QTech Games which have enabled us to grow our footprint from being the number-one aggregator for the Eastern emerging markets to becoming the leading game distributor for emerging markets worldwide. Our latest innovation on the tech front has been the launch of QTech Hybrid, which is now affording players in Africa a seamless switch from traditional retail to digital and back again. QTech Hybrid is a software service that joins up QTech Games’ AI-powered casino lobby (a leading game-personalisation engine known as QTech Play) to a land-based (retail) management system and a state-of-the-art integrated AMS (Agent Management System) to manage both retail outlets and agents. This allows operators to scale their brick-and-mortar operation online. QTech Hybrid simplifies transactions by enabling deposits, withdrawals, and gameplay while allowing access to players both in-store and on personal devices.

For the player, the net result is that they can now enjoy all the games from the comfort of their own home, or on the move. QTech Hybrid offers a new style of gameplay, allowing players the option to play at physical terminals or on their mobile devices and seamlessly transfer their progress across multiple devices. And for the operator, there is no need for expensive terminals, as QTech Hybrid runs on cost-effective computers/tablets. In short, It’s ideal for operators looking to extend their reach across multiple platforms, providing the flexibility to operate both land-based and online through the AMS. And that’s precisely the multi-channel model which Africa has been crying out for.

We’ve already rolled out QTech Hybrid to instant acclaim in Africa with our pilot clients and we received some immediate recognition of this progressive step when we won Most Innovative African Partner at the Africa Gaming Expo at Lagos earlier this year. That award now sits alongside other notable recent wins over the past 12 months, including Leader In Online Casino at last month’s Eventus East Africa Awards, Best Online Casino Supplier for Asia & The Philippines at SPiCE, Best B2B Platform at SPiCE South Asia, and Best Online Casino Provider for Africa at last year’s SBEA+ Awards as well. We were also shortlisted for Best Aggregator at the 2025 Global Gaming and EGR B2B Awards, so it’s great to see international industry judges validating the recent work of our diligent team.

New Tech requires new Tech spaces

Towards the end of 2024, we also set up a Tech Hub in Malaga on the south coast of Spain. Its initial aim is to establish two key operational units (a Connect Team to facilitate supplier integrations; and a QTech Hybrid Team to support our retail solution) to drive software development and bolster services for its global partners. But, thanks to our recruitment partners at ESR and the team’s initial gains, I’m pleased to say we’re already moving offices into a bigger unit, as we crew up from 12 to 30 staff with the addition of a new Platform Team.

This exciting hub is bringing further capacity to QTech Games’ tech function, aligning for better connectivity with existing teams based across Asia, Europe and Hispanic markets in LatAm – but, chiefly, it sits at the gateway to the bubbling African market and the early demand we’re seeing for QTech Hybrid. And we’ve also just put more boots on the ground in Valletta, Malta, another well-placed igaming nerve centre from which to serve multiple continents.

This physical growth strategy also allows us to scale up our tech org more quickly and make sure we’re one step ahead of any innovative trends or requirements in technology. Malaga and Valletta consistently chart among Europe’s most safe and desirable cities in which to live. So, we’re investing in these stable tech-renowned bases to ensure we are constantly delivering bleeding-edge solutions as a key part of our overarching push to remain at the forefront of new technology, innovation and product development.

This summer, I was thrilled to become part of the recruitment drive as QTech’s new Head of Region – EMEA, as we bid to consolidate our existing presence across Europe and, in particular, drive new revenue streams across Africa’s evolving landscape. I’ve since been joined by a dedicated sales lead for East Africa (while another manager for the West is currently being recruited), so you can clearly see QTech’s intent to make Africa a substantial part of our total revenue mix. We’re going to have a strong brand identity in the region.

What sets QTech Games apart

All of these innovations and new foundations would be for nothing, however, were it not for our underlying proprietary platform and a willingness to work in genuine collaboration with all our partners, no matter their size, to achieve mutual goals. Constant dialogue and responsiveness allow us to organically enhance our platform in ways that generate palpable gains and create diversified revenue streams. What works in one market won’t necessarily work in another, even if it’s next-door. So, collaboration is essential for capitalising on specific market demands and embracing innovations that drive growth (e.g. local data that empowers our fine-grained recommendation engine, QTech Play; or rolling out a four-window interface for engagement) while also negotiating evolving technical challenges.

In short, we’re always trying to improve our platform’s functionalities to optimise performance. And by gathering, observing, and refining raw data, we can identify and capitalise on emerging trends. Effective collaboration also involves understanding the relationships within the data and developing strategic plans to action and take advantage of those insights.

At the end of the day, by way of comparison, we are now generating more revenues for both the providers and operators than anyone else on the market. This affords us a unique position relative to our competitors and moves the aggregation game away from often getting embroiled in ongoing discussions about the rates. Elsewhere, we’ve also added new languages to our website – French to cover the francophone countries of Africa, while we have also now Brazilian-Portuguese alongside our existing Spanish capacity for LatAm.

Player habits – and the games that count

Small-stakes-big-win scenarios will prove popular in all emerging markets, of course, and these types of bets are great for the operator on margin – and there’s plenty more juice in the lemon, so to speak. Such accumulator or parlay bets are already calling the tune in Africa on football, where a 10-team (1×2) “acca” is the average multi-leg bet placed. So, essentially, customers are asking to play a football lottery every week! This preference is easily mapped onto igaming, of course.

More broadly, reliable and quick access to funds (from deposit to withdrawals) is also paramount to making your brand the preferred wallet of any customer. Customer trust in any operator really hinges on their capacity to payout in a timely fashion. Especially because customers heavily favour the igaming jackpot or sportsbook parlay model. Happily, because they do everything through the mobile networks and mobile money wallets (e.g. mobile-coded withdrawals from ATMs), payments to local customers are relatively simple. And finally, the user experience of your site has to be familiar to the end user, so you can’t reinvent the wheel for UX (from existing operators here) if you want to take on the leaders in any given territory.

Naturally, football is the boss for initial player engagement when it comes to gambling in Africa. The vast majority of all sports wagers are across the various football leagues, with the English Premier League in the ascendant. Consequently, high-profile sports sponsorships, TV ads and African ambassadors (homegrown footballers who have made it in the overseas leagues) are prized. While cross-sell cashout games – and crash games are a perfect paradigm – can continue to bridge any divide between icasino and sports betting.

As a result, even in this shifting landscape where much is still to be defined, crash games have already firmly bedded in – led by Aviator, accounting for a majority of all casino revenues. That’s a salient fact which again underscores the opportunity. After all, in a complex continent in which 2G and 3G are still prevalent, it’s vital to have products that are not disadvantaged where data is patchy. Crash games have fewer bells and whistles – and retaining simplicity at the heart of the UI is part of their universal appeal.

This fast-game format is no craze with a limited phase. Instead, it will thrive, not just survive, thanks to its quick-fire thrills that satisfy audiences demanding something different from your traditional slot titles. Consequently, at QTech Games, we moved swiftly to keep our portfolio in the vanguard of this relentless industry demand. We now have 15 such providers with their own unique takes on this niche. And even in 2025, we’ve already gone live with more, spearheaded by Aviatrix – we’re always adding something fresh. To which end, on the Aviatrix release, we also launched an exciting multi-provider crash game tournament series for our operator partners and their customers, who were hyper-engaged by the diverse selection on offer.

QTech Games is all about offering our operator partners and their players the best entertainment experience, and these games combine the enthralling graphics of video games and social media with “smart” gamification features, making for a deeper, more immersive journey. But exciting gameplay coupled with pure playability is invariably the key. And by combining video-game-level visuals with the latest maths models for improved gameplay that hits the right end of the volatility spectrum, this fresh format of risk is here to stay in the digital gaming space, and also offers cross-sell opportunities between icasino and sportsbook (which QTech Games also offers), especially when the EPL, Champions League and the Africa Cup of Nations renew their competitions later this year for this soccer-mad continent where football will always be king.

In this unfolding crash-games story, it will also be interesting to note how such games are influencing slot innovation (you guessed it, they already are), and even a land-based migration to retail. And as we’ve just discussed, it’s always important where you set your scene in emerging markets, since niche versions need to be designed in order to attract regions prioritising low data consumption and lightweight operations, alongside features including auto-betting and cashout options. We’ve also integrated even more “light” games for markets like Africa, which guard against technological barriers to engagement, such as handset quality limitations, restricted access to fast networks, or high data costs. You always need to resolve these challenges without sacrificing delivery of a high-quality product.

In conclusion, Africa will remain front of mind for QTech Games. And we are increasing our investment in the region precisely because of these growing igaming markets and their accompanying potential for tailored innovation. This is the time to kick on and ride the wave.