First of all Mpesa owned by Vodafone can only be only be in the following countries http://www.vodafone.com/business/global-enterprise/africa.
I don't absolutely know what you mean by (a) "can" and (b) "countries"; I will go by the standard meanings. In the link you provided, here is what I can see:
"
We established a hub in South Africa in 2009 and have expanded into Kenya, Egypt, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana."
I think it is dead in S. Africa, but never mind. If it
can be in only those countries, then how and where do the other countries come in??
There's no denying that sportpesa is doing well cause of the easy of collecting money via Mpesa(mobile Money). Anywhere in africa that people watch football and there's mobile money Sportpesa can operate. Gambling is value added service on top of the core mobile money services. As such the more things you can do with mobile money the more appealing that service become hence driving uptake for both mobile money and the entertainment in form gambling.
Slow down there, friend. Where is it doing well? You also say that "
Anywhere in africa that people watch football and there's mobile money Sportpesa can operate", but your own list gives only 5 (or 6 countries in Africa). And how many countries are in Africa?
So, let me ask again:
(1) Why M-PESA not made much headway in the rest of Africa?
(2) How would sports gambling make a difference?
I'd look at the first before the second. As for the notion that "gambling is value added service", I'd be very worried about anyone who believes that, but here our main concern is actually (1). So how about we do that first. (My reasoning here is that if, say, the most basic regulations won't allow M-PESA into the place, then inviting people to lose their money doesn't seem to be the best "work-around".)
After that, we can look at "
anywhere in africa that people watch football". Many of us here watch all sorts of sports? Does it necessarily mean that we gamble on them? And if we don't, is it solely because we don't have the opportunity and means to do so?
It is, course, possible that there are all sorts of suckers out there that are "amenable" to SportPesa. But such people are already being fleeced where they are, and, beyond regulatory and other complications, I don't see what *-Pesa has to offer them.