Over the last year and a half Ladbrokes has attracted a strong customer base for their South African website
Since August 2010 it has been illegal to provide online casino gaming within the South African jurisdiction however, online sports betting is legal. Many clubs and leagues throughout South Africa receive essential funding generated through online sport betting.
Ladbrokes, one of the UK’s leading bookmakers, caught onto this in September 2010 and promptly launched a South African betting website as soon as they were granted a license.
The Ladbrokes marketing manager, Anli Kotzé, reported that the response has been far greater than expected. In a recent interview Kotzé said that they viewed South Africa as a “great opportunity for Ladbrokes to increase its footprint in a fast developing market”. Ladbrokes also adapted their payment model for South Africa; they found alternatives to credit and debit cards which are usually needed but which may have been lacking amongst South African customers.
However, there have been a few slip ups. Recently, Ladbrokes lost a major revenue opportunity when a technician accidentally removed the one-day international cricket match between South Africa and Sri Lanka form the Ladbrokes.co.za website. This meant that customers could not bet on the game whilst it was in progress.
Nonetheless, things are going well, since entering the market Ladbrokes has reported an increase of 50% in month-on-month registered local customers, a 40% increase in the number of bets placed month-on-month and a 25% increase in turnover generated through the South African website.
Ladbrokes entered into the South African market in a partnership with Kairo International Group and became the third international bookmaker to be granted a license. At present, assuming that there are no more vital cricket matches missing from the website, there is no reason why they should expect their great success to continue and grow.
