Formula 1 signs Betway as its first-ever Official Betting Operator, expanding official in-play products to Africa and other regions

The multi-year deal gives adult fans in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Canada and Mexico access to official pre-race and in-play betting markets powered by F1 data, including strategy-based options such as safety cars and pit stops.

Formula 1 has announced a multi-year partnership with online betting brand Betway, making it the sport’s first Official Betting Operator—a landmark move for F1’s commercial strategy and a major expansion of “official” wagering products for fans outside the US.

Under the agreement, Betway’s activation will cover Africa, alongside Europe, the Middle East, Canada and Mexico. The partnership is designed to offer official pre-race and in-play betting markets, using Formula 1’s live data and analytics to create new ways for fans to engage with race dynamics beyond simply picking a winner.

F1 said the betting offering will build on the role of ALT Sports Data as the sport’s official betting data supplier, enabling real-time predictive analytics and the creation of proprietary data and priced odds. This expands the menu of live markets to include strategy and race-event outcomes such as safety car deployments and pit stops—areas that are central to how modern F1 races are actually decided.

For African audiences in particular, the inclusion is notable: it places the continent inside an officially supported betting footprint at the same time F1 continues to pursue broader fan growth across emerging markets. The next question will be how quickly these official products scale across different African jurisdictions—where advertising rules and betting regulations vary widely—and whether F1’s approach becomes a template for other global sports seeking to monetise live data through regulated wagering partnerships.