Pietro Calicchio, leader of the hospitality and gambling industry for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in South Africa, said the gaming industry is one of the major contributors to improving economic growth across Africa.

Ahead of this year's ICE Africa, which will bring the global gaming industry and the entire African gaming continent together when it opens at the Santon Convention Center in South Africa from Oct. 24-25, Kalkio said, "South Africa's gambling industry will continue to be adversely affected in the short term by slowing economic growth, but improving economic conditions over the latter half of the forecast period will help growth. The industry remains an important contributor to the economy by creating jobs, continuing capital expansion, and paying taxes to both the state and state governments."

With about 30 countries in the continent holding offline casinos or various types of gambling machines, South Africa, the country's most popular gambling destination, includes 40 casinos and around 38,000 slot machines. Since it was legalized in South Africa in 1994, gambling has grown into a multi-billion-land industry in the country, and in nearly two decades, it is worth more than £23 billion and contributes £26.9 billion to the country's economy. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' gambling outlook report, the industry is expected to grow at a rate of more than 5 percent, reaching nearly 35 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) by 2021.

The economic growth predicted by the report is not limited to South Africa, as significant amounts of gambling occur in Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Uganda, all of which will be a key focus on the ICE Africa agenda. Gambling gross income in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, is expected to increase by 16% over the next five years, and a nationwide lottery called Quick Lottery will be launched in the future. Ayo Arriz, the former chairman of the Senate Capital Markets Committee, believes that the launch of the National Lottery service will generate additional tax revenue and create jobs. According to Arriz, about 20% of the revenue generated from the National Lottery goes to the federal government, which will use the money for good purposes.

As Africa's gambling industry continues to grow from a revenue perspective and the noose on regulation becomes more stringent, the industry needs to innovate itself and align itself with global trends to ensure sustainability for both operators and countries. ICE Africa's organizer, Clarion Gaming, is committed to the continent's industrial development, claiming that they will apply the same level of attention to the details, thinking, creativity, and expertise needed to deliver their signature ICE brand to the world and firmly put industrial innovation on the agenda.