Mr Eazi's Choplife Gaming wins Mali betting licence and takes betPawa to its 10th African market

Choplife Gaming has secured regulatory approval from PMU Mali to launch betPawa in the West African country, adding Mali to a portfolio of licensed markets that now spans 10 African countries and stretches from Nigeria to Rwanda, and from Tanzania to The Gambia.

The approval, announced this week, gives the pan-African mobile-first gaming company its first licensed foothold in Mali, one of Francophone West Africa's largest countries by population. PMU Mali, which stands for Pari Mutuel Urbain Mali, is the country's state gaming regulatory body. Its approval is a required gateway for any legal sports betting or gaming operation in the country.

Olu Odeneye, Chief Operations Officer of Choplife Gaming, said the company had been working toward the Mali launch as part of a deliberate expansion across regulated African gaming markets. "We are excited to bring betPawa to Mali and grateful to PMU Mali for their engagement and confidence throughout the licensing process," he said. "Mali is an important market with a vibrant and youthful population, and we look forward to building a long-term, compliant, and locally relevant gaming platform that creates entertainment, jobs, partnerships, and economic value."

Malian users will gain access to betPawa's mobile-focused platform, which includes sports betting, instant games, online casino offerings, mobile money payment integrations and responsible gaming tools. The company said the platform has been designed specifically for African users, with simplified onboarding, lightweight technology infrastructure, and fast deposits and withdrawals built around mobile money systems already embedded in the daily financial lives of consumers across the continent.

Choplife Gaming is chaired by Oluwatosin Ajibade, the Nigerian singer and entrepreneur known professionally as Mr Eazi, who has spent the past several years converting his entertainment profile into a serious technology and gaming business. In January 2025, Choplife Gaming signed a four-year licensing agreement with pawaTech Group to operate the betPawa brand across six African markets. That deal, which made Mr Eazi an operator rather than merely an ambassador, gave the company the licensing architecture it needed to expand aggressively. Before the Mali licence, Choplife had already secured regulatory approvals in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Benin, Liberia, The Gambia and Sierra Leone. Mali is the tenth.

The company operates through two distinct brand structures. In The Gambia and Sierra Leone, it runs its wholly owned Chopwin brand. In Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Benin and now Mali, it operates the betPawa brand under the pawaTech licensing arrangement. Liberia, which received its licence in January 2026, is the most recently disclosed market prior to Mali.

The timing of the Mali expansion reflects the broader trajectory of Africa's digital gaming sector. Mobile penetration rates across the continent have climbed steadily for a decade, and the proliferation of mobile money services has removed one of the most persistent barriers to digital entertainment adoption: the absence of convenient, accessible payment infrastructure. In markets where bank account penetration remains low but mobile money is ubiquitous, a sports betting or gaming platform that integrates directly with mobile money wallets can reach consumers that credit card-dependent international platforms cannot. That structural advantage is what African-built platforms like betPawa have been designed to exploit.

Choplife said it would work closely with regulators, telecom operators, payment providers and local stakeholders in Mali to ensure compliance, consumer protection and responsible gaming standards are maintained as it builds out the market.

Mali's gaming market has historically been less developed than those of its West African neighbours to the south, in part because its regulatory framework has been slower to formalise. The PMU Mali approval signals that the regulator is prepared to license and oversee digital gaming operators under a structured compliance framework, which is a prerequisite for any serious foreign or pan-African operator entering the market at scale.

Africa's digital gaming sector is attracting growing attention from both African entrepreneurs and international capital, with analysts projecting the continent's online betting market could reach several billion dollars annually over the next decade as mobile infrastructure improves and regulatory frameworks across key markets mature. The number of Africans who have bet on sport at least once is estimated at more than 40 million, with the majority of activity concentrated in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana. Markets like Mali represent the next wave of addressable users, younger populations with growing smartphone access and disposable income seeking digital entertainment platforms built for their specific infrastructure and payment context.

Choplife Gaming's ten-market licensed footprint, achieved within roughly 18 months of its January 2025 betPawa franchise agreement, makes it one of the fastest-expanding African-owned gaming operators by geographic reach. Whether that speed translates into sustainable market share will depend on how effectively it builds local partnerships and brand recognition in each new territory.