{"id":900229,"date":"2026-09-21T15:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900229\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T15:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:36:11","slug":"new-pan-african-responsible-gaming-network-promotes-common-principles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900229\/","title":{"rendered":"New pan-African responsible gaming network promotes ‘common principles’"},"content":{"rendered":"

African responsible gambling organisations are joining forces as the continent’s online betting market continues to expand.<\/p>\n

The African Responsible Gaming Network (ARGN) launched on Monday, with the aim of strengthening player protection and tackling gambling-related harm.<\/p>\n

The initiative brings together stakeholders such as responsible gaming organisations, researchers and treatment specialists.<\/p>\n

It is said to mark a \u201csignificant step forward\u201d in addressing gambling-related harm across the continent, facilitating relationships between representatives from a number of countries both inside and outside Africa.<\/p>\n

The ARGN\u2019s work will focus on four key strategic priorities:<\/p>\n

Producing a pan-African gambling harm report covering research, emerging trends and evidence from across the continent;<\/p>\n

Establishing a directory of treatment, recovery and support services available to people affected by gambling harm across Africa;<\/p>\n

Developing policy recommendations and practical measures to help regulators and policymakers strengthen responsible gaming frameworks;<\/p>\n

Coordinating awareness and prevention initiatives that can be rolled out across multiple African markets.<\/p>\n

Lebo Seoheng, advocacy and communications manager at the South African Responsible Gaming Foundation, has been appointed as the ARGN\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

Seoheng said the network\u2019s launch comes as Africa\u2019s online gambling market continues to expand, marking stronger player protection and responsible gambling measures increasingly important.<\/p>\n

Fragmented continent requires a unified response<\/p>\n

One of the founding members of the ARGN is GamblePause Initiative Africa, founded by Ladipo Abiose Akolade.<\/p>\n

Akolade said the ARGN was established to address the fragmented nature of responsible gambling efforts across Africa and create a platform for greater collaboration between organisations working in the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cARGN was created because problem gambling is becoming a bigger issue across Africa and most responsible gambling efforts still happen within individual countries,\u201d Akolade tells iGB. \u201cWhile many organisations are doing great work, there has been limited opportunity to learn from each other, share research, or work together on common challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt there was a gap for a continent-wide network that could connect organisations, encourage collaboration, and help build a stronger collective voice on player protection. ARGN is not here to replace national organisations or regulators. Its purpose is to support and strengthen the work already being done by bringing people and organisations together.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while the ARGN intends to enhance collaboration between stakeholders across the continent, Akolade asserts the aim is to promote \u201ccommon principles rather than identical regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Akolade explains: \u201cEvery African country has its own legal framework, culture, and level of market development, so a single model might not work everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do believe is that basic principles should apply across all markets. These include protecting minors, providing effective self-exclusion options, promoting responsible advertising and ensuring that people affected by gambling harm can access support.<\/p>\n

\u201cARGN will help to shape these principles into standards while allowing countries to implement them in ways that fit their local realities.\u201d<\/p>\n

What measures is the ARGN seeking?<\/p>\n

When asked what responsible gambling measures the ARGN was seeking the implementation of, Akolade said the network wanted to establish minimum player protection standards across African markets and move responsible gambling requirements beyond paper-based rules towards measures that are actively enforced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to see stronger player protection measures across African markets,\u201d Akolade adds. \u201cThat includes enforcement of effective age and identity verification, meaningful self-exclusion systems, responsible gambling advertising standards, improved access to counselling and treatment services and stronger action against illegal operators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current landscape pays lip service to responsible gaming, and you\u2019d hardly see effective player protection architecture other than messages asking players to gamble responsibly and surface-level awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a minimum standard in player protection is one of the aims of the network. Our view is that responsible gaming regulations need to move beyond being paper-based requirements to actual standards that are upheld as a regulatory requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wider African push for player protection<\/p>\n

The ARGN\u2019s launch follows the inaugural Africa Safer Gambling Week<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Hosted by the African iGaming Alliance, the week brought together a range of stakeholders in the African sector.<\/p>\n

CEO Peter Kesitilwe recently told iGB<\/a> he hopes the first Africa Safer Gambling Week will be the beginning of a new era of collaboration that boosts player protection efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want Africa Safer Gambling Week to create a platform for ongoing cooperation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign may run for a week, but responsible gambling must be practised throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/a>Kyle Goldsmith<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle has been with Clarion since December 2023, joining from the world of sports journalism, subsequently becoming a LatAm-facing senior reporter with iGB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"African responsible gambling organisations are joining forces as the continent’s online betting market continues to expand. The African…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[468600,468601,64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":["post-900229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-african-responsible-gaming-network","tag-argn","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}