World
England’s Gambling Sector Braced for Another Hit
The news that England has gone into another full lockdown for at least a month came as a blow to many business sectors in the country.
Hospitality was one of the worst-hit by the previous lockdown and was only just beginning to show some signs of recovery as people returned outdoors when this new lockdown was imposed.
The news that all non-essential businesses, which includes pubs, restaurants and entertainment and leisure facilities will have to be closed till 2nd December at least was also disheartening for the various gambling shops, casinos and bingo halls in the country as well.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that there was no alternative to this lockdown if the country wished to avoid a ‘medical disaster’. With case numbers beginning to rise again, not imposing a lockdown would soon lead to a situation with thousands of deaths per day and with the National Health Service being completely overwhelmed due to the rising numbers of serious cases.
Thus, this ‘painful’ lockdown was the only way to ensure that the country could have anything resembling a normal Christmas.
There have been critics of this decision all over, with some experts stating that the lockdown has come too late and it should have been implemented at least a couple of weeks earliest, while others have pointed out that this is a failure of the government’s ‘test and trace’ program, which was supposed to identify those who came in contact with infected people rapidly and get them into isolation, as a way to control the spread of the virus.
Nevertheless, this decision will cause a lot of financial distress yet again, especially in the casino business. While most operators expect losses to pile up again, there is a ray of hope in that this may once again drive people towards online gambling and betting.
Officials from Winz casino commented that the previous lockdown had led to an increase in revenue from online operations, and even though this lockdown is only going to be a month-long, for now, it is still reasonable to expect a similar impact on online gambling once again.
However, most of the large betting conglomerates are expecting heavy losses. GVC, which owns Ladbrokes and thus is the largest land-based gambling operator in the UK, has said that it expects a £27 million hit to profits due to this lockdown, while total losses across its European operations could reach £37 million this month, with France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Czech Republic also having imposed national lockdowns in the last few weeks.
This number could rise to £43 million if Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland join this lockdown as well. This is a possibility as well, with Nicola Sturgeon having not ruled out the possibility of a national lockdown in Scotland, while Northern Ireland closed non-essential businesses for four weeks earlier this month.
The government has announced that the furlough scheme will be extended as a result, which will see employees on the scheme receive up to 80% of their salaries for hours not worked.
This will ease some of the burdens on companies, but GVC has said that its projections for losses include this government support, showing just how bleak the environment is for businesses at the moment.
Nevertheless, the need to control the spread of the virus and reduce deaths is the primary aim at the moment, and the betting industry is firmly behind this attempt. The hope is that casinos and betting shops are allowed to reopen once this lockdown is lifted since not doing so would put thousands of jobs at immediate risk.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Accessing the US Dollar in the East Africa region has now been made easier with the expansion of the stablecoin settlement infrastructure of SCRYPT.
This development enables banks, payment providers and corporate treasury teams to move value into and out of the continent in real time.
Businesses paying international suppliers frequently have to convert local currency into USD before purchasing stablecoins for settlement, incurring FX conversions and spreads before any payment is made.
But SCRYPT is eliminating this intermediate conversion by enabling direct settlement corridors for local African currencies into stablecoins.
This development allows businesses to move from local currency to stablecoin settlement in a single licensed transaction, without first sourcing rationed bank dollars, as stablecoins are increasingly becoming settlement infrastructure rather than an investment product.
The expansion adds settlement support across four African currencies: the Kenyan shilling (KES), Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Rwandan franc (RWF) and Ugandan shilling (UGX). Each corridor is delivered through the same full-stack infrastructure our clients already use for trading, custody and treasury operations.
Speaking on this, the chief executive of SCRYPT, Norman Wooding, said, “Across Africa, stablecoin adoption is driven by economic need, not speculation.
“Businesses here are not chasing yield; they are trying to pay suppliers and manage treasury without losing margin to a banking system that rations dollars. Licensed, fair-rate dollar access is the clearest proof of what this infrastructure is for.”
Also commenting, the Managing Director of Markets & Trading at SCRYPT, Mr Gabriel Titopoulos, said, “Until now, reaching stablecoins from local African currencies meant buying scarce dollars and incurring several layers of conversion costs.
“SCRYPT removes this friction. Firms and payment providers can now settle straight from local currencies through live corridors, with local partners.”
World
African Graduates Association Promoting Multifaceted Initiatives With Russian Educational Institutions
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled for late October 2026, Dr Francois Ngan, deputy chairman of the Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities, during an official working visit, has held a consultative meeting with Professor Vladimir Filippov, the President of the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship (RUDN), and former Minister of Higher Education of Russia, Chairman of the National Commission for Accreditation of Higher Education.
RUDN is an educational institution established in 1960, primarily to provide higher education to Third World students. It has now become a popular multidisciplinary spot for many students, especially from developing countries. The university offers various academic programmes and has research infrastructure that comprises laboratories and interdisciplinary centres. The university is named after the former Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba.
Dr Francois Ngan and Professor Filippov discussed the importance of the Graduates Association as a continental platform dedicated to strengthening unity, cooperation, and promoting shared progress among African graduates who studied in the former Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation. They also reviewed multifaceted initiatives that could bring together alumni associations from across Africa, whose members obtained education and professional training, and cultural experiences in Soviet and Russian institutions of higher learning.
Professor Filippov expressed optimism in addressing emerging challenges as a result of shifting geopolitical changes, emphasised strategic cooperation in the educational sphere with Africa, in general, and with the Republic of Cameroon, in particular, and further about the integration of African students during their studies in the Russian Federation.
The meeting also touched on academic and scientific work, the possibility of rewriting a scientific thesis, and the official organisation of transferring versions translated into six languages for the library of RUDN. Significant questions relating to Russia’s educational opportunities, collaborations and partnerships involving African countries were thoroughly discussed.
The Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities was created under one continental umbrella to promote friendship, for professional networking, to engage in cultural exchange, and with particular emphasis on forging strategic cooperation between Africa and Russia.
