5 Questions: Ladipo Abiose Akolade
Founder, GamblePause Africa
Ladipo Abiose Akolade founded the responsible gambling organization GamblePause Africa in 2024, with the aim of preventing and reducing gambling-related harm through an evidence-based approach.
With a new app launched in August, Abiose Akolade talked with GGB’s Kyle Goldsmith about the challenges around responsible gaming in Africa, the importance of access to player protection, and his ambitions for greater collaboration between GamblePause and industry stakeholders across the continent.
GGB: What were the reasons behind the launch of GamblePause Africa?
Ladipo Abiose Akolade: Coming from a lived experience, I realized that one of the major problems when it comes to responsible gaming is age verification systems. We have conversations about underage gambling and a lot of people are coming up with excuses why technologically based age verification systems can’t be implemented. So I’m thinking I know the problem, the industry knows the problem. The barest minimum I can do is create awareness and also try to create solutions to solve this problem.
Africa is known for being a mobile-first continent. What does the app do in terms of allowing you to reach players when they need you most?
Now they have access. A lot of times, they don’t even know where to go when they have a problem. You see situations where some people even call as far as the U.K. when they have a problem, because that’s basically what they know.
This has given them access to the organizations having to solve this problem. This has given them access to tools for them to protect themselves when they’re exposed to any sort of gambling harm. In a nutshell, it’s just basically access, right? Access to recovery, access to support, wherever you are in Africa.
What has the feedback been like from regulators and operators about GamblePause, and specifically the app?
For the app, you know how it is—everybody’s going to be mute, which is expected. I’ve been trying to let them understand that when we started GamblePause, we had a lot of issues around funding, which is understandable because there’s really no framework when it comes to responsible gaming.
Again, it’s a situation where everybody’s just talking about responsible gaming, but nobody is actually doing it. I just took it upon myself because this is a passion project for me. I’m going to do it.
GamblePause is the Safer Gaming Charity Partner of WorldGaming. What has that partnership allowed you to do?
The partnership basically gave us a speaking engagement at the ICE conference. It also gave us a booth at the conference for awareness. There were a lot of media-partnership kind of things—basically, it was for PR and visibility. Organizations like ourselves, we are small, and the industry has a certain perception about what we do. WorldGaming basically put us out there and gave us a louder voice in terms of positioning.
What would success look like for the app and the wider GamblePause initiative over the next 12 months?
For the app, it’s going to be collaborations, because it’s a no-brainer. If my app is speaking your language in your country, it just makes sense for you to bring me in. So collaborations with regulators, collaborations across African markets (would) be a huge success.
Integration on the betting platforms would be a huge success as well, where players now are prioritized. Player protection is moving from just PR to policy implementation.
