WSOP Announces Events in Senegal, Is South Africa Next?

For more than 17 years, the World Series of Poker Circuit has been organizing poker tournaments at a number of different casinos every season. In the early years, the events were exclusively hosted by casinos in the United States and Canada. However, since 2015, the circuit has been international, traveling all around the world.

So far, the WSOPC has been to South America, Europe, Asia, and even Africa. Actually, two WSOP events took place in Africa – one in Johannesburg (South Africa) and one in Marrakech (Morocco).

In 2022, the world’s most prestigious poker tournament series is coming back to Africa. This May, the WSOP Circuit will make a stop in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Casino Plaza, one of the country’s most luxurious casino resorts will serve as the host venue for the tournament. The Senegal edition of the 2022 WSOP Circuit is scheduled to start on Friday, May 13, and finish on Sunday, May 22 after completing nine different events.

WSOP Heading to Dakar in May 2022

In May, Dakar is going to be the world capital of poker. The WSOP will organize nine events that month, including the Super High Roller event with a €3,000 buy-in on the last day of the tournament.

WSOP and Its International Presence in 2022

The tournament in Senegal is going to be only the fifth time this year that the WSOP Circuit is traveling across the Atlantic. Previously, the tournament went to France and the Czech Republic, where two 2022 events took.

In Cannes, the tournament took place at Casino Barriere Le Croisette, a luxury casino hotel on the Azure Coast. Over in the Czech Republic, King's Resort in Rozvadov is the venue that got two entries in the WSOP calendar this year.

When it comes to Africa, the tournament in Senegal is going to be the first time in several years that WSOP is making a stop in this continent. The WSOP did make an expansion into the African market in the early 2010s but gave up on the idea eventually. The reason why it took them until 2022 to get back to Africa is that they probably thought there wasn’t much interest in poker in this part of the world in the past.

However, Africa is a huge market, with a long and fruitful gambling tradition. According to the United Nations, there are nearly 1.4 billion people calling Africa their home in 2022. That accounts for almost 17% of the total world population.

Even if only a tiny percentage of those people were poker fans, it would still be a giant number. But the fact is that gambling is one of the most popular activities in Africa. And it keeps getting more and more popular, especially online.

Rising Popularity of Online Gambling in Africa

The main reason why online poker isn’t even more popular in this part of the planet is that internet use isn’t as prevalent in Africa as it is in other continents. In fact, it’s estimated that less than 50% of all Africans use the internet on a regular basis. Internet usage differs greatly from one country to another. For instance, only about 4.6% of people from Western Sahara have access to the internet. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Kenya with 85.5% of the population using the world wide web.

Another country that’s above the continental average of internet presence is South Africa, which is also the leader when online gambling is concerned. In fact, studies suggest that about 80% of the continent’s entire gambling activity happens in this country.

Apart from having the infrastructure necessary for this sort of activity, there’s another reason that puts South Africa ahead of other countries. Its government has fully regulated the online gambling market. The result is that South Africans can gamble at locally licensed casino sites/sportsbooks without any fear of repercussion. They have the luxury to choose from a wide range of online casino games, including poker.

In fact, most of the leading online poker platforms – PokerStars, Party Poker, GGPoker, and others – accept players based in South Africa.

Apart from South Africans, most of those sites also accept players from Senegal, Nigeria, Congo, and many other countries.

South African Poker Players Who Made It Big

South African pro poker player Hugh Todd is the most successful African at the WSOP with one bracelet won and 10 cashes for a total of $408,205 in earnings. However, when it comes to career earnings, there are 19 other South Africans who have made more money.

The man sitting at the top of the rich list is Raymond Rahme. According to the Hendon Mob, the 77-year-old veteran has earned a total of $3,546,346 from playing poker. Second on that list is Jarred Solomon with $1,620,895. The only other South African poker millionaire is Darren Kramer with $1,127,014.

Who knows, maybe we’ll see some other players from Africa getting to their first million this year. Here's hoping that it will happen in this year’s WSOP.