SAHARAGAMES BOOKMAKER REVIEW
WE HAVE RECEIVED REPORTS OF PROBLEMATIC WITHDRAWALS AND GENERAL ISSUES WITH PAYMENTS - WE DO NOT RECOMMEND USING SAHARA GAMES
An increasing number of users are reporting issues with their deposits and withdrawals, this is why we can’t recommend using SaharaGames. Here are some betting sites, which we recommend you to look into:
Paripesa | Fast payments and high odds
- Mobile friendly
- Odds boosts
- 1000’s of live games
- 100% welcome bonus
- Nigerian betting site
Paripesa is an international brand, who acquired a valid Nigerian license and are happy to welcome all Nigerian sports fans on their NG-specific site.
OUR RATING – 9.8/10
WELCOME BONUS – 100K NGN
PROMO CODE – 200NGN
Betbonanza | Top quality sportsbook
- 100% welcome bonus
- Quick registration
- Nigerian license
- 1000’s of live games
- Reliable brand
Betbonanza is a well-known Nigerian betting brand. All new players can get a ₦100,000 bonus to bet on 1000’s of football games.
OUR RATING – 9.5/10
WELCOME BONUS – 100K NGN
iLOT | Original Nigerian betting brand
- Welcome bonus
- Nigerian license
- Mobile app
- Lots of promotions
- Accumulator boosts
iLOT is an original Nigerian betting brand – they haven’t been around for long, but they already one of the “go-to” bookmakers for many local sports betting enthusiasts.
OUR RATING – 9.8/10
WELCOME BONUS – 17K NGN
REVIEW SUMMARY
WHAT MAKES SAHARA GAMES A GOOD BETTING SITE
- Two free bets for new players
- Nigerian betting site
- Quick registration
- Over 30 different spots
- Birthday bonuses
OUR RATING – 3.2/10
BONUS – TWO FREE BETS
OVERVIEW
Sahara games or as some may call it “Sahara Betting” is a sports betting brand, which currently operates across several African countries with Nigeria being one of them. It appears to be extremely difficult to find any kind of good information about Sahara Games online. We believe this to be partially related to them being quite new and partially related to them not being well-known to the wider sports betting community. This is quite a shame because they seem like a good and user-friendly betting platform with lots of content to choose from. Sahara Games claim to be holding valid licenses issued by Nigerian sports betting regulators and if you would like to confirm this yourself – we can recommend reaching out to regulatory bodies like the National Lottery Regulatory Commission of Nigeria and the Lagos State Lotteries Board. If you haven’t yet heard anything about Sahara Betting or of you heard something, but still want to know more – we prepared this detailed and unbiased review of them as a betting operator.
REGISTRATION
As a newcomer, the first thing you would need to do is create an account. This is a casual thing and we often pay no attention to the process, however it may radically differ between bookmakers. Sahara Games made it quite easy for new people to join. You still need to fill out a standard registration from, but the process itself is a lot quicker than it usually is. The registration form consists of several basic things you need to fill out, these include things like your name, address, email, phone number and password. As soon as you complete and submit the form, you are good to go. You will not be asked to confirm or verify anything at this stage. Having said that, the entire registration process takes just under 2 minutes to complete.
WELCOME OFFER
Sahara games have an interesting approach to their welcome offer and that really sets them aside from other bookmakers. Their welcome package consists of two separate offers – each one of them will award you with a free bet. In total each new user will be able to claim two free bets worth ₦185 each. Each free bet will be awarded after making a deposit, these would be ₦2,000 for the first one and ₦2,500 for the second one. Each free bet has to be used within 6 days.
SUPPORT
Customer care is another aspect where Sahara betting significantly exceeds our expectations. We expected them to have a ticketing system at best or even only email support, however that is not the case here. They are one of the few local betting brands who offer 24/7 phone support, so you can always call them and get to speak with an actual person. Apart from that you will, of course also have access to a regular ticketing system, live chat and various social media channels.
Finally, in order to give you a better picture of how Sahara’s support looks like in action, we decided to try them out ourselves. We used the live chat option on several occasions to ask general questions about their bonuses and betting rules. The waiting time was never more than a couple of minutes and all representatives we got to chat with were polite, professional and spoke good English. Having said that, don’t hesitate to contact them if you ever need any assistance.
BETTING MARKETS AND ODDS
Saharabet has quite an impressive sports selection with over 30 sports being currently offered for trading. There is a wide variety of tournaments and competitions available, starting from all top-tier ones, which have complete coverage all the way to smaller and even local leagues. In terms of content they can easily compete with some of the biggest Nigerian betting sites. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at some real-life examples, so you would have a realistic picture of what to expect here.
We are going to look at football, as that is one of the most popular spots when it comes to betting. At any given time you will see over 1500 football games being open for betting, as we said – this covers pretty much any tournament and league you can think of. On an average each game would have around 500 markets available, yet of course this would vary depending on the league you are looking at. Games from popular tournaments can have up to a 1000 markets per game, while less known ones will have around 300. Finally, another especially impressive thing about Sahara games is their market variety – they offer combinations and special markets, which you can hardly find elsewhere.
Let’s also have a quick look at the live betting section, as it has more than enough content to keep even the most demanding punter busy. When it comes to football, Sahara Games cover up to 100 live games on a daily basis, which would mean more than 3000 per month. Some other sports like tennis and e-sports will likely have even more than that.
SAHARA GAMES VIRTUAL BETTING
In addition to traditional (pre-match) and live betting, Saharabet also has a virtual betting section, where you can place wagers on simulated virtual games and races. This section of the website is powered exclusively by Betradar. This means you might already be familiar with some things that you see here and might have even used them before. There is a relatively moderate selection of virtual sports, however this will likely suffice for most betting enthusiasts. Among the available virtual sports you will find: six different variations of football, horse racing and dog racing.
SPORTS COVERED BY SAHARABET
Alpine Skiing, American Football, Australian Football, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Biathlon, Boxing, Cricket, Cycling, Darts, e-Football, Floorball, Football, Formula 1, Futsal, Golf, Handball, Ice Hockey, MMA, Motorcycle Racing, Motorsport, Rugby, Ski Jumping, Snooker, Specials, Squash, Stock Car Racing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Virtuals, Water polo
DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS
Sahara Games have done a good job at localizing their website to be a better fir for the Nigerian betting community. This can be especially clearly seen if you look at how payments are handled and what payment methods are available. The two main payment methods available here are Paystack and Flutterwave. If you are familiar with either one of them – you will know that they allow you to make payments and request withdrawals for pretty much any local bank. It is also worth mentioning that the minimum amounts are also a lot more liberal compared with other bookies.
The minimum deposit amount is ₦50.
The minimum possible withdrawal is also ₦50.
HOW TO MAKE A DEPOSIT?
Go to ng.saharagames.com and sign in using your phone number and password. If you don’t remember your password and are unable to log in – you can reset your password using your phone number.
Once you are logged in, press the image of a person in the top right corner to open the account management section. You will see a green “Deposit” button, which you need to press to get to the payments page.
The payments page will allow you to choose between Paystack and Flutterwave, so pick the one you need and follow the given instructions to proceed with your payment.
Depending on the payment method of your choice, you might need to add some additional information. For example, this applies to bank transfers – you will need to specify your account number. Now simply follow the given instructions to complete your deposit. 
PROMOTIONS AT SAHARA GAMES
There isn’t really that many different offers available at Saharabet, however the ones they have are quite good and definitely stand out. Especially the welcome bonuses, which are quite different compared to welcome bonuses on other betting sites.
FIRST DEPOSIT BONUS
The first deposit bonus is actually a free bet, which you will be given after you make your first deposit and use it for betting. In order to activate the offer, you have to make a deposit of at least ₦2,000 and you will need to place a bet with the odds of 2.60 or higher. Once the conditions are fulfilled, a free bet will be automatically credited to your account. Only one free bet can be claimed at a time, so please make sure to use your free bet before activating the second welcome offer.
Free bet value: ₦185
Required odds: 2.60
Minimum deposit: ₦2,000
SIGN-UP BONUS
You can consider this to be the second welcome offer that can be claimed by new players. This is also a ₦185 free bet and the conditions are generally quite similar. The minimum required deposit in order to claim the bet is ₦2,500 and you will need to place a bet with the odds of 2.40 or higher. As soon as you fulfill the above conditions, the free bet will be automatically credited to your account.
Free bet value: ₦185
Required odds: 2.50
Minimum deposit: ₦2,500
OTHER PROMOTIONS AT SAHARA GAMING
To be fair, there aren’t that many offers available for existing players, however you can still take advantage of various odds boosts, loyalty bonuses and presents.
ACCUMULATOR BET BOOST
This is quite a common offer and you can find it on almost any betting site. In short, your potential winnings will be increased depending on the number of selections you add to your betslip. The bonus starts with 5% for 5 selections and gradually increases as you keep adding selections. The maximum bonus you can get is 150% for 29 selections.
CASHBACK FOR LOSING BETS
Sahara Games will pay you back if you lost more than won while betting on football. If you bet ₦100,000 or more on football within a week and end up losing more than winning – 10% of your loss will be paid back to you. The maximum cashback you can receive is ₦100,000.
BIRTHDAY BONUS
Saharabet gives you some bonus funds as a birthday present. In order to claim it, log into your account on your birthday and you will see an option to place a birthday bet and place that bet with the odds of 2.60 or higher. Just make sure that your profile information has your date of birth and that it is accurate.
ACCEPTED PAYMENT METHODS
Paystack, Flutterwave, ENTERPRISE BANK, MAINSTREET BANK, Access Bank, CitiBank, Access Bank PLC (Diamond), EcoBank, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, GTB, Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Skye Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank, UBA, Union Bank, Unity Bank, Wema Bank, Zenith Bank, Visa, MasterCard, Verve
SAHARA GAMES CONTACTS
- Email Address: service@saharagames.com
- Live Chat: Yes – 24/7
- Phone: +23408092338100; +23408092338111
- Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Support page
SAHARA GAMES MOBILE
Saharabet has already surprised us on a number of occasions with the quality of their betting product and their mobile platform doesn’t fall short either. They even have two different versions of their mobile website – a regular version, where you have access to all features and sections and a “lite” version, for older and outdated devices.
Let’s first take a look at the regular mobile website to see how it looks and what you can do there. In general, the mobile website allows you to do all the same things, which the desktop website has and in some cases even more.
The interface is informative, which is a big plus – you can immediately see how many games are available in each sport and how many markets are open for betting in each game. This makes finding something to bet on extremely easy as you are not forced to just go from page to page looking for games with the most markets. If you open up an actual game, you will see all markets being sorted in different categories – you can simply hover over to the one you are interested in instead of scrolling through the entire page
Finally, the betslip section is always available at the bottom of your screen regardless of which page you are on. This makes it a lot easier to follow your selections when placing accumulator bets.
We believe it is also worth mentioning the technical aspect here. The mobile website is built in a way that will save you some time when moving between pages as well as your traffic. All static elements are shared by most pages and cached by your browser, which means that you will not have to load the entire interface when opening a new page.
LITE MOBILE WEBSITE
Like we already mentioned earlier, Sahara Games has a second version of their mobile website, which is designed to work with older devices and / or slower connections. The interface functionality is obviously limited compared to the “full” version, nevertheless it still has everything you might need on a daily basis. You will be able to engage in all available betting activities, you can claim bonus offers, make deposits, request withdrawals and will even have a full overview of your betting history.
SAHARA GAMES DESKTOP SITE OVERVIEW
A functional and user-friendly interface design is usually a good sign when it comes to betting sites, as this will enable you to find exactly what you need in just several steps, markets and selections should be clearly visible and understandable while the betslip part should show all details relevant to your bet and additional options and/or features if applicable. Below are some examples of how Saharabet’s online sports betting section looks like.
As soon as you open up the desktop website you will notice how smooth it seems to work. This is quite uncommon when dealing with betting sites because they all usually have loads of information on every page and it takes some time to load and populate everything. This is not the case with SaharaGaming – their website is really as fast as it can be and you get the best out of whatever your internet speed is.
Now we can also take a look at the actual user interface. It seems to be quite intuitive, arguably even a complete sports betting novice should be able to figure it out quite quickly. The homepage gives you a quick overview of several most popular sports and how many games are available in each one of them (within a 24-hour time range). Once you move over and look at the actual games, you will see that each game has an indication of how many markets are currently open for betting, so you won’t have to open them one-by-one. The exact same logic applies to the live betting section as well.
Finally, we can have a look at the account management sections, as that is one the places where players usually spend a considerable amount of time. The deposits and withdrawals pages are quite straightforward and we already covered them in the “HOW TO MAKE A DEPOSIT?” section above. Saharabet also gives you access to all sorts of historical account data in detail – things like your deposits, withdrawals, bets, bonuses and promotions you have used in the past are always just a click away.
BETBIGA AFFILIATE PROGRAM
Sahara Games has an affiliate program, which allows people to refer new players and earn a commission all income that those players generate. This is quite a common practice in the betting industry in general, so it’s no surprise that Sahara Games offer this as well.
HOW IT WORKS?
Sagarabet’s affiliate program is managed via the Income Access network, so you would first need to go to their registration page (button below) and submit an application. Once you fill out the registration for and submit it – it will be reviewed by the Income Access affiliate team. This can take up to a couple of days, so don’t worry if you won’t get any feedback the same day. Once your application is processed you will get an email to notify you of the outcome. If your application is successful – you can start your affiliate journey, you will get your referral link and you can use it to invite new players.
FAQ | FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
IS SAHARA GAMES LEGIT?
Yes, Sahara Games mentions holding several local licenses that allow them to operate a sport betting business. If you want to know more, we recommend reaching out to regulators like the National Lottery Regulatory Commission of Nigeria and the Lagos State Lotteries Board.
HOW TO REGISTER AT SAGARA GAMES?
The registration process is quick and easy, so it will take you no more than a couple of minutes to be good to go. First of all, follow one of our registration links and you will be directed to ng.saharagames.com where you will need to press the “Register” button. You will then be taken to the actual registration page, where you need to fill out a generic registration form with some basic account information. You are ready to play as soon as you submit the registration form – you don’t need to confirm or verify anything at this stage.
HOW TO CLAIM FREE BETS?
Saharabet offers free bets as a way to welcome new players, so we will tell you what exactly you need to do in order to claim two free bets as a new player.
In order to claim your first free bet, you have to make a deposit of ₦2,000 or more and place a bet with the odds of 2.60 or higher using that deposit money. Once you do that – a free bet will be credited to your account. Make sure to use your free bet within 6 days and be sure to use it before you apply for the second one.
In order to claim your second free bet, you have to make a deposit of ₦2,500 or more and place a bet with the odds of 2.50 or higher using that deposit money. Once you do that – a free bet will be credited to your account.
WHAT IS THE MINIMUM DEPOSIT?
The minimum amount you can deposit is ₦50.
WHAT IS THE MINIMUM WITHDRAWAL?
The minimum amount you can withdraw is ₦50.
WHAT IS THE MINIMUM BET?
The minimum stake is ₦100.
IS THERE AN OPTION OF SETTING LIMITS AND SELF-EXCLUSION?
Saharabet is one of the few local betting brands, who allow users to set limits and even exclude themselves from gaming altogether. Please bear in mind that spending limits and self-exclusion are not available in the “lite” mobile version.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Echere – a life-long sports fan with a career in the betting industry. Paul has worked with many betting operators and platform providers since the very early days of iGaming. Having years of experience with numerous bookmakers, Paul is in an excellent position to review and rate sportsbook brands. Feel free to follow him on Facebook and LinkedIn to find out what he is up to.
