How Gamble Pause Initiative Africa is uniting responsible gambling across the continent
At SiGMA Africa 2026, Ladipo Abios Akolade, Founder and CEO of Gamble Pause Initiative Africa (GPIA), outlined the organisation’s expanding work, from school outreach programmes to Nigeria’s first dedicated gambling rehabilitation centre. He also made the case for a more unified, continent-wide approach to player protection. For Akolade, the path to a sustainable gaming ecosystem in Africa runs through one thing above all else: collaboration.
Early intervention as the foundation
For Akolade, responsible gambling begins long before a problem develops. GPIA has made school-based outreach a central pillar of its work. It targets students, teachers, and parents before harmful gambling habits take hold.
“Gambling starts early. A lot of people engage in it when they are underage. It becomes a problem when you start at that level,” he explains. “What we do is go to schools to create awareness. While we do that, we also run activities like debate sessions. If you’re able to tackle addiction from that level, I think we are building a sustainable gaming ecosystem.”
The approach is rooted in a conviction that prevention is more effective than treatment after the fact. By embedding responsible gambling (RG) education within school communities, GPIA aims to shift attitudes before they develop into entrenched behaviours.
Nigeria’s first gambling rehabilitation centre
Beyond prevention, Akolade has moved to directly address existing harm. The initiative established Nigeria’s first dedicated gambling rehabilitation centre. It responds to growing demand from people seeking help.
“We had a lot of clients calling and asking for help. We have a couple of psychologists who handle them virtually. But they needed a space where they could connect with counsellors and clinical psychologists. That’s what led us to set up the rehabilitation centre,” he says. “The centre was very key in that model.”
The centre fills a critical gap in the region, providing in-person clinical support for problem gamblers at a time when industry growth has outpaced welfare infrastructure.
A responsible gambling app built for African realities
Akolade also revealed that GPIA is close to launching a dedicated mobile application. It is designed specifically around African conditions rather than adapted from Western tools.
“Responsible gaming tools across the world are also being used in Africa. But addiction patterns in Europe and the Western world differ from those in Africa due to local economic, cultural, and social factors,” he explains. “I looked deeply into this and embedded those local realities into our app.”
The application will feature parental controls, self-exclusion options, cool-off periods, and a directory of support services across the continent. It will include multilingual support, reflecting the continent’s linguistic diversity. Akolade confirmed the app is due to launch soon.
Cross-border collaboration as a strategic imperative
A recurring theme in Akolade’s remarks was the need for responsible gambling organisations across Africa to consolidate rather than operate independently. He pointed to GPIA’s partnership with GAM Aid, a Zambian non-profit organisation dedicated to responsible gambling and player protection, as a model for regional cooperation.
“You are able to achieve a goal when you speak with one voice,” he says. “Collaboration gives us a standardised framework. Once we have that, we can head in the right direction for responsible gaming.”
The collaboration with GAM Aid has enabled the forthcoming launch of Gamble Pause Zambia. This extends the organisation’s footprint beyond Nigeria for the first time. “Once we collaborate as responsible gambling organisations in Africa, rather than operating in silos, we can achieve a greater impact. Then regulators and operators can collaborate with us,” Akolade adds.
A blueprint for a sustainable African gaming ecosystem
Asked what a fully functioning, responsible gambling system would look like for Africa, Akolade outlined an RG baseline. He described this as a minimum standard that each African jurisdiction should adopt. It comprises five elements: strict age verification to prevent underage gambling, ethical advertising standards, deposit limits, self-exclusion and cooling-off periods, and accessible support services.
“Once we implement all these into the framework, we are looking at building a sustainable gaming ecosystem. We do not want a system where the industry collapses on itself,” he says. “We want the industry’s growth as much as the operators and regulators do. To achieve that, we must prioritise players. They are the lifeline of the industry.”
Akolade drives this home with a straightforward warning: ignore player welfare, and the whole sector risks backlash from governments and communities, or the collapse of public trust. Regulators in places like Nigeria and Kenya have already started tightening rules after seeing addiction rates climb. Operators who bake in these safeguards early, adding app-based limits and transparent reporting, stand to gain loyal customers and smoother licensing. In his view, embedding player protection measures early is essential to sustaining industry growth and ensuring long-term market viability.
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