Members of PlayBet operated casinos featuring titles from South African software provider Aardvark now have access to Pragmatic Play titles! (Image from pragmaticplay.com)
Pragmatic Play and Pragmatic Play Live brands are now reaching further into South Africa with another deal that will see live casino and video slots available on Playbet–a well-known and fast-growing operator in the country.
In fact, although the news announcement was made on 2 February, the deal already kicked in on 1 Feb taking Pragmatic Play casino game titles to Playbet’s software provider Aardvark to deliver games to the South African players via a second distribution channel in Africa’s most southern country. Last year (2021), Pragmatic Play penned a deal with local South African operator CDP Gaming breaking into the domestic iGaming market. And with its success with CDP, as well as the brand’s remarkable global success, Playbet was only too happy to link up with Pragmatic Play.
The current deal in place is not only for online casinos games (namely video slots + live dealer games) but also Pragmatic Play’s virtual sports content–something the brand has been concentrating its efforts on over the past 2 years. However, there is no mention of Pragmatic Play’s bingo catalogue at this time, but could very well be part of the deal. That said, specifically, the news report issued by Pragmatic Play says ‘3 verticals are going live and the verticals mentioned were Slots, Live Casino and Virtual Sports. Yet, it would also make sense is bingo games were delivered under the slot provision contract.
Now Pragmatic Play has domestic brand exposure, giving players the chance to play its online casino game titles using Rands (ZAR). Albeit, Pragmatic Play has long been a recognized brand name in the country prior to making deals with local operators. Via its Curacao and MGA licensed operators, Pragmatic Play games have always been available in the country to which there is a full list of casinos accepting players from South Africa.
Games Available: The Playbet deal will see top Pragmatic Play slot titles reach South Africa. Wolf Gold, Gates of Olympus, and live casinos game shows like Sweet Bonanza Candyland were explicitly mentioned by Pragmatic Play in its new report.
Why Sign Up with Domestic Brand Names?
Although Pragmatic Play already has a considerable reach in South Africa via online casinos with overseas owners, mainly situated in Gibraltar, Cyprus, and Curacao, being part of a locally operated company also has its benefits. For instance, advertising for CDP Gaming and Playbet is much easier owing to local connections–this is the first reason Pragmatic Play will increase its exposure in the country.
On top of this, some domestic players prefer to sign up to casinos and sports betting websites that are locally operated. Although MGA casinos are perhaps the safer option due to the stringent licensing and player support offers–something that local operators in South Africa are not bound to. Albeit, these local brands also have a reputation to uphold and generally appear to have highly regarded reputations.
Are SA domestic casinos regulated? Playbet and CDP Gaming iGaming firms do operate under local laws, but these are fairly ambiguous. To the letter of the law, it is illegal for a company situated in South Africa to offer online casino games. However, it seems there are workarounds, or maybe loopholes (exceptions to the rules) allowing local operators to offer services.
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