A new study has reported that governments across Sub-Saharan Africa are struggling to keep pace with the mass expansion of gambling, brought about through online technologies and smartphone apps.

An international team, coordinated by the universities of Glasgow, Ghana and Bath, in partnership with the Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU), reviewed existing policies in place to regulate the gambling industry across 49 countries.

They found that in 41 countries where gambling was legal (of 49 in total), only two published annual reports about its impacts. In 36, no public reporting was accessible.

This lack of transparency and general lack of coherence about gambling regulation suggests that as the industry grows, governments are increasingly unaware of the scale of the problem; namely, the negative effects gambling is having on users’ finances and their mental health.