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Olabimpe Akingba, head of responsible gaming at pawaTech and AiA board member, said the initiative reflects the association’s push to turn cross-border collaboration within Africa’s iGaming sector into tangible action on player protection.

“At the African iGaming Alliance, we have been committed to moving beyond conversations about collaboration across African jurisdictions towards meaningful action,” she explained.

“And what better place to demonstrate that commitment than through player protection? The Africa Safer Gambling Week is our collaboration in action.”

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At a time when sports betting and predictions have reached a fever pitch, the majority of the country’s most prominent sports leagues, along with their player unions, sent a memo dated 15 September to a contingent of 35 state gaming authorities. Among proposed regulatory actions, the leagues recommend mandatory lifetime bans for individuals deemed to have “abusively harassed or issued threats of violence” against any professional athlete.

The leagues, including the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, submitted the memo as Texas Senator Ted Cruz works assiduously to pass a landmark federal framework for college athletics. While the NCAA is not a signatory to Tuesday’s letter, the advisory also urges states to pass mandatory bans for individuals who threaten “amateur athletes” along with coaches, officials and team personnel.

“Threatening the safety of an athlete or their family members over a sports bet crosses a bright ethical and criminal line, and it is entirely unacceptable,” the leagues wrote in the statement.

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He described online gambling and betting as a “social scourge“. Some people, he said, “after repeated losses and financial difficulties, have been driven to despair, sometimes to the point of contemplating suicide”.

The committee considered the bill once, on 3 February, and has since taken no further action.

Meanwhile the government has been approaching the issue via a new bill. Sports minister Sadok Mourali said in November 2024 that a gambling and sports betting bill had been circulated for consultation. Twenty-six public institutions received that consultation, including the central bank, Competition Council and financial intelligence authority.