5 Questions: Patrick Kwakye
5 Questions with Patrick Kwakye, Deputy Director, Investigations, Inspection, Compliance and Enforcement, Gaming Commission of Ghana
As deputy director of investigations, inspection, compliance and enforcement at the Gaming Commission of Ghana, Patrick Kwakye plays a key role in shaping one of Africa’s most exciting regulated betting markets. Kwakye recently spoke with GGB’s Kyle Goldsmith about gaming’s rapid expansion on the continent, what makes Ghana stand out and how the regulator plans to unlock the market’s full potential.
GGB: Ghana is often thought of as the fourth-largest African gambling market behind South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Do you believe that’s right?
Patrick Kwakye: I think Ghana is second, behind South Africa. There are some larger in numbers—for instance, Ghana’s population is around 34 million, while Nigeria is around 360 million people. So obviously, they can get huge numbers of people flowing through. But the issue lies with the quality of stake. So if you ask me, I think Ghana is second in Africa, and it should beat South Africa very soon. We are there, I believe, in the next two years.
What makes Ghana such an exciting market?
In Ghana, 70 percent of the people are below the age of 30, so we have a youthful population. Also, the mechanism that we’re putting in place in terms of regulation is very strict, so it’s easier to not allow the system to be used for money laundering.
Ghana is doing very well because of the new administration, the new government and the new CEO that we commissioned in Emmanuel Siisi Quainoo. He understands the dynamics, so he has moved with precision and accuracy. Also, when we give you the license, you can operate in all the 16 regions of Ghana. I think it’s unique, and we advise people to come over to Ghana and invest.
What are your top priorities in terms of regulation for the next 12 months?
We are talking about digital regulation, because most things have gone online. Fortunately for Ghana, we have the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act that will embrace digital currency, but in a regulated form.
Going forward, fintech is going to take place, then responsible gaming and compliance issues. These are the top three things that I think we are going to look at.
Betano launched in Ghana earlier this year. How exciting is that for the market? And do you expect other operators of that size to enter?
I think having Betano in Ghana gives credibility to the entire African continent as a whole, because Betano will not come to your country if it’s not solid or the economy is not solid. That gives confidence in the regulatory framework of the Gaming Commission of Ghana.
How could African regulators work together to help the continent achieve its massive potential for the gambling sector?
We must collaborate. What that means is that if companies come from your jurisdiction and you have blacklisted them, share that information to other African countries so that none of us will allow that same company to operate within our country. There’s a need for Africa to collaborate, share intelligence and share information to really put us on a global map and compete effectively with European countries.
