The Gaming Regulators Africa Forum (GRAF) and SiGMA will jointly host a regulatory workshop on November 5 during SiGMA World Rome in Rome, Italy. The session will bring together representatives from African regulatory authorities and industry stakeholders to begin developing the Rome Working Draft (Version 0.1), an initial document outlining potential approaches to regulatory cooperation across the continent.

The initiative builds on discussions held at the GRAF Regulatory Forum during SiGMA Africa 2026 in Cape Town in March. While those earlier discussions explored opportunities for closer coordination among regulators, the upcoming workshop aims to move the conversation towards practical recommendations and a written framework.

Five Key Areas of Regulatory Cooperation

Under the theme “Building an African Regulatory Cooperation Framework: Advancing Harmonisation Through Collaboration,” the workshop will examine how regulators can work together while maintaining the independence of their respective national legal systems.

Delegates will be divided into five working groups to develop recommendations in the following areas:

1. Information-sharing protocols: Improving the exchange of relevant regulatory information between jurisdictions.
2. Legal and institutional arrangements: Exploring structures that can support cooperation while respecting national legislation.
3. Operational enforcement cooperation: Identifying ways to coordinate responses to cross-border activities and illegal operations.
4. Capacity building and knowledge exchange: Strengthening regulatory expertise through shared experience, training and knowledge transfer.
5. Communication and stakeholder engagement: Improving collaboration and communication among regulators and relevant industry stakeholders.

The working groups will present their findings during a plenary session to identify common priorities and areas of agreement. GRAF will subsequently consolidate the recommendations to inform the development of the proposed framework.

Regulators from Five African Countries Expected to Participate

Senior representatives from national and provincial regulatory authorities and government agencies in South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Uganda and Rwanda are expected to attend the workshop.

The programme will be led by Bonga Mngoma, Executive for Transformation and Economic Development at South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Economic Regulatory Authority, and Zoé Siwa, Chief Financial Officer of the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. GRAF President Mabutho Zwane will also participate in the opening session.

Industry representatives from the African iGaming Alliance and iGaming Academy are also expected to contribute to the discussions.

Why Cross-Border Cooperation Matters

Cross-border gaming activities, illegal operations and money laundering risks can create enforcement challenges that individual national regulators may find difficult to address independently.

Greater cooperation and information exchange could help authorities identify shared risks, improve regulatory responses and strengthen enforcement across different jurisdictions.

However, the proposed initiative is not intended to establish a unified African licensing system or harmonise national gaming laws. Each participating jurisdiction is expected to retain its own legislative and regulatory authority. Instead, the focus is on developing practical mechanisms that allow regulators to cooperate more effectively despite differences in their national frameworks.

This approach reflects discussions held in Cape Town earlier this year, where participants recognised that fully coordinated licensing across African markets could be difficult to achieve in the short term. More structured information sharing and cooperation were identified as more achievable steps.

The November 5 workshop will mark the beginning of the drafting process. Its recommendations will provide a starting point for further discussions on how regulatory authorities across Africa can strengthen cross-border cooperation.

Source: Yogonet International – African regulators to draft cooperation framework at SiGMA Rome