When we talk about economic growth in Africa, people’s thoughts go to the traditional sectors of mining, oil, gas and agriculture. But according to Mordor Intelligence, the African gambling and iGaming market is set to grow at a CAGR of 12.32% between 2026 and 2031. The fastest-growing markets are Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and South Africa, with growth also emerging in Namibia and Egypt.
That growth comes with travel challenges that few operators plan for. iGaming teams travel to less predictable destinations than most industries, often at short notice, and frequently into markets where security is a real concern. Many companies are also scaling so quickly that travel management falls through the cracks, leaving them with little visibility over spend or where their people are. Jonathan Scott, Senior Account Manager at FCM, one of Flight Centre Travel Group’s corporate travel brands, explains what these challenges look like and how companies can get ahead of them.
Unpredictable destinations, changing needs
Take mining, one of Africa’s traditional growth engines. “Mining travellers generally move between asset locations for a fixed, predictable reason,” says Scott. “iGaming travellers, on the other hand, are likely to travel to a wider range of often unusual destinations, driven by changing needs such as where a gaming licence is being tested or renewed.”
This makes for a restless travel pattern, one that follows regulators, partners and new markets rather than a fixed map. As a result, says Scott, these travellers “tend to be more open to exploring different options and routings.”
iGaming also sits firmly in the tech and fintech space, and its travellers behave that way. “We see travellers in these industries wanting to use technology when booking, for added efficiency and control over their planning,” says Scott. “They favour AI and mobile apps to keep them alerted and organised throughout their journeys.”
For the companies themselves, visibility matters just as much. Because travel in the sector is often unpredictable and unplanned, real-time data and reporting are essential for keeping track of spend and compliance.
When growth outpaces the travel plan
iGaming businesses can scale remarkably fast, and travel is usually the last thing anyone thinks about. “That’s the problem,” says Scott. “A startup with 20 travellers can book their own travel their own way, and that’s fine. But when that number becomes 200 and there’s no consolidated plan in place, you have no visibility of spend or travel behaviour, no duty of care measures for tracking and keeping travellers safe, and your travel is so diluted that you lose negotiating power for better rates.”
The first step, he says, is finding out what’s really happening. “Who’s booking where, and what’s actually being spent? There’s usually a big gap between that and what finance thinks. You can’t fix what you can’t see.”
From there, the work is to bring bookings onto one platform, build a travel policy around how the business actually operates, and automate approvals. “It’s never one-size-fits-all,” says Scott. “It needs to be flexible enough to move fast but structured enough that finance isn’t chasing exceptions every week.” Once that’s in place, dashboards showing spend by region and department give companies leverage for better rates and let them “forecast more accurately.”
The need for speed
In an industry where a licence deadline or a market launch can’t wait, many companies assume a consolidated programme will slow them down. Scott argues the opposite. “A messy, fragmented programme is what actually slows you down when speed matters. If the policy is already built and everyone knows the parameters, there’s more room for auto-approval. No waiting on a manager to sign off every booking.”
iGaming doesn’t keep office hours, so travel support needs to run around the clock too. Knowing where travellers are at all times matters just as much. “If a flight is cancelled or something happens, you need to be able to react immediately,” says Scott. “Without consolidation, ‘drop everything and go’ just becomes ‘drop everything and hope someone gets back to you.'”
Protecting traveller data matters too, in a sector where information security is everything.
Keeping executives safe in emerging markets
Many of iGaming’s fastest-growing markets are also where duty of care is most complex. “When executives are carrying sensitive IP or negotiating high-value deals in places like Lagos or Nairobi, duty of care can’t just mean knowing what hotel they’re in,” says Scott. “It means thinking through everything that could go wrong before they’ve even boarded the plane.”
That starts with current pre-trip intelligence on the political climate, unrest or border changes that week, rather than information from an outdated report. It also means vetted ground transport. “The twenty minutes between landing and reaching somewhere secure is often the highest-risk window,” says Scott.
For executives who need to keep a low profile, that can mean quieter hotels and less predictable schedules, “so sensitive business doesn’t come with an obvious target attached.” Medical and evacuation plans should be built around the specific city rather than a whole region, and real-time tracking should be paired with local knowledge. “If unrest is building somewhere, we often know before it hits international news,” he says.
For iGaming companies expanding across Africa, travel can’t be an afterthought. As Scott puts it: “The goal is that the executive can focus entirely on the deal. They shouldn’t be thinking about logistics or security at all.”
