African iGaming Alliance launches first Africa Safer Gambling Week for September

The African iGaming Alliance will host the inaugural Africa Safer Gambling Week from September 7 to 11, bringing regulators, licensed operators, industry associations and other stakeholders together around player protection, responsible gambling and public education across African markets.

The African iGaming Alliance (AiA) has announced the first Africa Safer Gambling Week, a coordinated continental initiative scheduled for September 7–11, 2026. The campaign will involve gambling regulators, industry associations, licensed operators and other stakeholders, with the aim of placing player protection more prominently alongside the rapid growth of regulated gambling markets across Africa.

Operating under the campaign banner #PlaySafeAfrica, the week will combine regulatory and industry engagement with public-awareness activities. Planned initiatives include a formal launch, media engagement, a five-day digital education campaign, community outreach and a continental webinar bringing regulators and industry representatives together.

Each day will focus on a different aspect of safer gambling. Topics will include understanding responsible gambling, setting personal limits, using available player-protection tools, preventing underage gambling and increasing awareness of the risks associated with illegal and unlicensed operators.

Participating jurisdictions will receive coordinated campaign materials but will be able to adapt their public messaging and activities to local conditions. That approach reflects the diversity of African gambling markets, where regulatory systems, product availability and consumer-protection requirements can differ substantially between countries.

AiA CEO Emolemo Peter Kesitilwe said the expansion of Africa’s gambling sector needs to be accompanied by stronger player protection. The Alliance sees the campaign as a practical way of bringing regulators and industry together around common consumer-safety objectives rather than limiting cooperation to policy discussions.

The initiative also places particular emphasis on the distinction between regulated and unlicensed gambling. AiA argues that consumers using illegal operators may have significantly fewer safeguards because those businesses can operate outside responsible-gambling requirements, regulatory supervision and established dispute-resolution mechanisms. Combating unlicensed gambling is one of the Alliance’s stated policy priorities.

Africa Safer Gambling Week builds on regulatory cooperation that has been developing throughout 2026. In July, AiA convened senior representatives from gambling authorities in Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania and Angola during iGB L!VE in London. That meeting covered responsible gambling, consumer protection, illegal gambling and greater cross-border cooperation, while the concept of a continental safer-gambling week was also discussed.

The Alliance intends Africa Safer Gambling Week to become an annual initiative, providing regulators and licensed industry participants with a recurring platform to share good practices and maintain public attention on gambling-related risks. Its first edition will therefore also test whether a coordinated continental campaign can complement the different responsible-gambling programmes already operating at national level across Africa.