Booming Games: South Africa’s Next Chapter

Solomon, Booming Games has been supplying the South African market for several years, long before it became one of the industry’s fastest-growing territories. What has changed most during that time, both in terms of the market itself and player expectations?

To begin with, it’s important that I emphasise that South Africa is one of the most mature regulated jurisdictions on the African continent. That’s really the starting point.

Booming Games has been doing business across Africa for a number of years, but prior to 2024 we weren’t supplying games to South African operators because our content had not yet been tested and approved by the regulators. We don’t believe it’s right for a supplier to provide games that haven’t gone through the proper approval process, so we stayed away until everything was fully compliant.

I joined the company in 2023 and, in 2024, we completed that process. At the time it was far more technical and demanding than it is today. Getting games approved wasn’t straightforward, and I think that explains why Booming Games didn’t enter the market earlier.

What we’ve seen over the past two years has been remarkable. On a number of our partners’ platforms we’ve become one of the fastest-growing suppliers. That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s happened because we’ve spent time understanding the market, listening to operators and players, and making sure the games we bring into South Africa genuinely fit what the market is looking for.

Over the last 18 months we’ve seen a wave of suppliers shift their focus towards South Africa as taxation and regulatory pressures have intensified in more established European markets. Has that influx changed the competitive landscape in a meaningful way?

Yes – absolutely. One of South Africa’s biggest attractions is regulatory clarity. Suppliers understand the process. They know what is expected before they enter the market, they understand the requirements, and that gives them confidence to invest. We’re going to continue seeing more suppliers coming into South Africa because, for any company that is serious about growing in Africa, South Africa has to be one of the priority markets.

Should suppliers be worried about all this new competition? I don’t really think so. At the end of the day, the focus has to remain on satisfying operators and players. Increased competition forces suppliers to make better games. It forces us to invest more in research, understand local preferences more deeply and build content that is genuinely player-centric rather than simply releasing another game into the market.

Ultimately, that’s good for everyone. It’s good for the players, it’s good for operators, it’s good for regulators and it’s good for suppliers because it raises standards across the industry.

As an incumbent supplier, do you see your longevity in the market as a genuine competitive advantage? Are there lessons you’ve learned over the years that newer entrants may underestimate?

I wouldn’t necessarily describe Booming Games as an early supplier to South Africa because there were companies operating in the market before us. We came in during 2024, so there are certainly suppliers with a longer history than we have. But two years of operating in South Africa has taught us a great deal.
We’ve spent those two years working with regulators, working with operators and, most importantly, listening to players. We’ve learned what kinds of mechanics work, what themes players respond to, what promotional campaigns resonate with different operators and even how preferences can differ across provinces.

That experience is definitely an advantage because those are things you only learn by being active in the market. You can’t understand South Africa simply by looking at data. You have to spend time with operators, understand the regulations and, most importantly, listen to what players are telling you.

South African players have always had distinct preferences. Have those tastes evolved as more international content has become available, or do locally established trends still largely dictate what performs well?

South African players have their own preferences, but they’re also becoming more exposed to international content than ever before. The important thing isn’t whether a game is local or international. The important thing is whether it connects with the player, which is why we don’t believe in simply making a game for one market. Our approach is to create games that can succeed globally while making sure they still appeal locally. That’s the balance we try to achieve with every release.

Operators now have access to significantly more suppliers than they did even a few years ago. From your conversations with partners, what ultimately differentiates one content provider from another in such a crowded market? Is it mathematics, mechanics, localisation, promotional tools or simply consistent performance?

I think what really sets Booming Games apart is our approach to making games. We’ve found this balance of creating games that are globally acceptable and locally appealing. That’s something we talk about internally all the time. Our games are successful across Latin America, Africa, Europe and other regulated markets, but that doesn’t happen because we ignore local requirements. It happens because every part of the game is carefully considered – the mathematics, the mechanics, the themes, the sound design, the imagery and every other component that creates the overall experience.

It comes from years of experience and from a product team that works incredibly hard to understand what players actually enjoy rather than what we think they should enjoy.

Rather than creating games specifically for South Africa, Booming Games has generally focused on producing content that travels well globally. How do you balance universal appeal with recognising the nuances of individual markets?

I don’t really see those two things as being different. Yes, our strategy is to create games that can succeed globally, but local appeal is always part of that strategy. We don’t ignore individual markets.
While the games are designed with a global audience in mind, we still consider the requirements of each jurisdiction. We look at game mechanics, themes, volatility, RTP, sound, imagery and all the different elements that matter to local players.

A good example is our partnership with Ronaldinho. He’s obviously a global football icon, but when we build those games we still think about how different markets engage with football and how we can make the experience feel relevant locally. Finding that middle ground between global reach and local appeal is really what sets us apart.

Football has enormous cultural significance across South Africa, and your long-running partnership with Ronaldinho continues to evolve. How important is it to combine globally recognisable personalities with themes that genuinely resonate with local audiences, rather than simply relying on celebrity appeal?

I think it comes down to the connection that the celebrity has with people. Everybody recognises celebrities, but not every celebrity has the same emotional connection with players. Ronaldinho is different because of the way he played football, the joy he brought to the game and the memories people have of watching him.

That gives us a very strong starting point. But I’ve always said that the celebrity opens the door. What keeps the player inside the room is the game itself. Players might initially come because they recognise Ronaldinho, but they stay because they enjoy the mechanics, the features, the progression and the overall experience. If the game isn’t entertaining, the celebrity alone won’t keep people playing.

Has the Ronaldinho series, including the latest game – Ronaldinho Streetball Bonanza – given you insights into how branded content performs across different regions? Do you see noticeably different engagement in football-centric markets such as South Africa?

We’ve been very pleased with the response to the Ronaldinho series. The success we’ve seen tells us that when you combine an authentic global personality with strong gameplay, players respond positively across different markets. That’s why we continue to invest in the series. But again, I come back to the same point. Ronaldinho creates the initial interest. The long-term success comes from making sure the game itself delivers the experience players are expecting.

Having watched the South African market mature over a number of years, where do you think the next phase of growth comes from? Is it product innovation, broader regulation across Africa, improved payments, or simply increased consumer adoption?

In my opinion, regulation is one of the biggest growth opportunities. South Africa has nine provinces, and each province has its own approach to licensing and approvals. In some provinces, every individual game has to be tested and approved. In others, approvals happen at platform level.

For Booming Games, there are provinces where we have more approved titles than others. The consequence is that some of our best-performing games cannot go live with certain partners, because the approvals haven’t yet been completed under that provincial licence.
I think there is an opportunity for greater alignment between the provincial gambling boards. I’m not saying the current system is wrong, and I’m certainly not criticising the regulators.

They all have responsibilities to their own provinces. But if there were more alignment around testing standards, approvals, reporting requirements and promotional rules, suppliers could bring content to market faster and operators would have access to more games more quickly.

If the regulators can find a middle ground and rely more on one another’s approvals, I think we’ll see faster routes to market and a healthier industry overall. It’s actually quite similar to Nigeria, where gambling is regulated at state level. There you have 37 different regulatory authorities, each with its own requirements around approvals, marketing and responsible gambling. South Africa has only nine provinces, so it’s a simpler structure, but the principle is very similar. Greater alignment creates greater efficiency.

Finally, with competition intensifying and virtually every major supplier now targeting South Africa, what does Booming Games need to do to ensure it remains one of the market’s leading content providers rather than simply one of many?

I think it comes back to something I’ve mentioned throughout this interview: listening. One of the things that really sets Booming Games apart is that we actively listen to players through our operator partners. Everything we do – game design, product development, marketing campaigns – starts with understanding what players actually want.

A good example is our recent activations around Africa. They gave us the opportunity to engage directly with players, ask questions, receive honest feedback and understand what they enjoy, what they’d like to see more of and what doesn’t interest them. Too often, suppliers decide what they think players should like. We prefer to let players tell us. Feedback goes directly into our development process and helps us build games that are more engaging, more entertaining and better suited to individual markets.

That’s our philosophy across Africa. If we continue listening to players, continue listening to operators and continue building games that combine global quality with local relevance, I’m confident Booming Games will continue growing in South Africa for many years to come.