Reliable Betting and Gaming Solution for Diverse African Markets

Background

Goat Interactive needed to rebuild their sports betting web applications with a new UI/UX using the latest technology stack. They partnered with Symphony Solutions to have the necessary services provided.
The solution had to cater to mobile-centric usage in Africa, taking into account the varying mobile network connection speeds across the continent whilst providing a best-in-class user experience. Reliability of service was paramount; any downtime would have a direct negative impact on the customer experience and revenue. The team also needed to understand the unique needs of each African country, catering to the online experience for each region.

Client

Goat Interactive, formerly known as Editec Online, is a sports betting and casino operator focused on the rapidly growing African market. The client operates in 17 countries across the African continent, primarily through the Premier Bet brand, but it also has partnerships with local brands in Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Goat Interactive recently acquired the Nairobet brand.

Challenge

Symphony Solutions team was challenged to create a highly reliable solution for a mobile-centric betting market in Africa while accounting for specifics of each region where Goat Interactive is represented. From a technical perspective, the solution had to be developed in a manner that allowed for maximum flexibility from the operator’s perspective. The system had to both cater to current needs and, most importantly, support the future needs of the business.  

Solution

Our approach 

Symphony Solutions quickly assembled a multi-disciplinary team of experienced iGaming professionals – consultants, architects, designers, and developers. The team outlined the vision, the key focus areas, and the blueprint, engaging the client on all steps of the process, from design through development of a fully serviced operational support model. 

Backed up by Symphony Solutions´ Lean-Agile Centre of Excellence, the development process followed a proven Symphony Solutions Engagement Model, built around best practices in Lean and Agile product development and making use of familiar light-weight Agile frameworks.  

Technology Decisions 

Given some of the challenges associated with mobile connections in Africa, one key area of focus was the varying connection speed of users. The choice of development frameworks used reflected the needs of the end-users: 

• React.js was used to provide a good balance of flexibility with the economy of bundle size. 

• Node.js on the backend and Progressive Server-Side rendering was used to allow the page to be displayed chunk by chunk without waiting for the full page to load. 

• Java was used on the backend, drawing upon the vast ecosystem of libraries affording the developers a great deal of flexibility. 

• GraphQL was chosen as a query language for the API, as it provides a complete and understandable description of the data in the API. It gave our clients the power to ask for exactly what they need without overloading it with additional data. 

• CDN was used to serve static content and to protect against DDoS attacks. 

A progressive web application approach was used (all static site assets are cached), which means that: 

• pages load faster on subsequent visits, regardless of network connectivity; 
• updates are downloaded in the background; 
• the app will work regardless of the network state, even if offline; 
• when used on mobile devices, the app can be added directly to the user’s home screen. 

Result

• Using a Lean-Agile approach, the client and team planned collaboratively, and a new software version was released every two weeks, with sprint demos taking place for key stakeholders. 

• Goat Interactive´s new sports betting solution was released in Malawi and is being rolled out across multiple countries throughout 2022. 

• A dedicated maintenance and support team is in place, providing on-call and out of hours support in line with a service level agreement.