Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa with a population of over 6.7 million, estimated in 2017.
Radio is the most popular and most trusted media source in Sierra Leone, with 72% of people in the country listening to the radio daily. Internet usage is low but gaining momentum year-on-year. There were 71,318 users connected to the world of Internet in 2012, which was about 1.3% of its population. These stats jumped to 310,000 users by June 2016, about 4.6% of its population.
Online gambling in Sierra Leone is not regulated and therefore there are no legal and licensed online gambling sites in the country. Sierra Leone is seen as a potential online gambling market, but restricted due to the lack of regulations in “Sierra Leone State Lottery Act”.
The state lottery offers 6 types of lottery games so far, that includes Mini 10/90, Kick Po and Pick 6. Apart from the state lottery, there is one legal gambling provider “Mercury International”, which acquired its license from the government of Sierra Leone on the 1st October 2006 for the provision of a 5/90 lottery and sports betting, including horse racing and dog racing.
Online lottery is legal and licensed but none of the two companies offer any of their lottery products on an online platform, however, players can register and play on foreign online lotteries.
There is only one licensed casino in the country called Bintumani Hotel and Casino in Aberdeen Hill district.
Sports betting is legal and licensed in Sierra Leone with the only two legal providers being the state-owned Sierra Leone State Lottery and Mercury International. Both run land-based fixed odds betting operations over the country.