Sharp Vision
Sharp Vision is a French technology firm specializing in data analytics and digital regulatory tools for the gaming and telecommunications sectors. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Paris, the company primarily provides software and monitoring services to state lotteries and regulatory authorities in West Africa, including Benin, Guinea, and Senegal. While it markets its services as tools for responsible gaming and anti-money laundering compliance, its rapid expansion and procurement methods have been the subject of regional media scrutiny.
History
Sharp Vision was founded in 2022 in Paris as a subsidiary of SAS Sportytote, the parent company of . The company was co-founded by French entrepreneurs Cyril and Christophe Casanova. In 2023 Sportytote underwent a structural reorganization, transferring its regulatory technology assets to Sharp Vision. This move was made in order to separate its B2B monitoring services from its B2C betting operations. The company has offices in France, Benin, Guinea Ghana and South Africa, with projects also reported in Senegal, Mali, Gabon and Côte d'Ivoire.
In December 2023, the French investment group Agila 'Capital' invested €30 million into the parent company. This was followed by an additional €50 million capital restructuring in October 2025 to support expansion into Latin America.
Operations
Sharp Vision provides 3 core services:Gambling-regulation monitoring: Platforms that aggregate betting data to assist governments in supervising operators and calculating tax liabilities.Risk-monitoring: Behavioral analysis tools designed to identify patterns of addiction and assist in player protection initiatives.Mobile-payment oversight: API platforms that connect to mobile-money providers to monitor financial flows and flag transactions for anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
The company claims that its technology has enabled tax authorities in several African states to increase gambling-related revenue through automation and data analysis.
The company is led by Chief Executive Officer Laurent Grimaldi, who s also a partner at Agila. The Vice-president for Public Affairs Anna Martins previously served in several French ministries. Sharp Vision's founders, the Casanova brothers, remain majority shareholders through Sportytote SAS. The company reported profits of approximately €5.7 million in 2023, all generated outside France.
Business relationships
Sharp Vision maintains close operational links with its sister brand Honoré Gaming, which operates across betting markets in Africa. The companies share infrastructure, staff and developers. A 2023 financial statement showed significant receivables from the Senegalese technology firm Afitech SA, with which Sharp Vision concluded a multi-million-euro software-licensing agreement. The company also lists the Senegalese lottery authority LONASE among its regulatory-technology partners.
Controversies
LONASE partnership and procurement allegations
In 2023 Honoré Gaming, Sharp Vision's parent company, entered a partnership with Senegal's state lottery, the Loterie Nationale Sénégalaise , to supply monitoring and data-collection systems. The deal, signed by then-director-general Lat Diop, later drew criticism from Senegalese civil-rights groups for having been awarded without competitive tendering and for favoring foreign companies. Diop was subsequently charged with large-scale embezzlement unrelated to Sharp Vision, but commentators have questioned the due-diligence process behind the company's contract. As of 2025, no legal action has been reported against Sharp Vision or Honoré Gaming themselves, but local press and online commentators have accused the firms of benefiting from non-transparent procurement mechanisms.
Sharp Vision executives have described the company's “AI-driven regulation of gambling” as an innovation that balances insight and player protection. Privacy advocates and media outlets have criticized this model, arguing that the company's mass collection of user data across multiple African countries constitutes a new form of “digital colonialism.” Observers have also questioned whether gamblers and national regulators have adequate oversight of where and how the data is stored or monetized.
Relationship with Afitech and monopoly allegations
Sharp Vision's African partner Afitech SA has faced scrutiny for alleged monopoly conditions in Senegal's lottery-monitoring sector. In July 2025 the Agence de Régulation de la Commande Publique rejected Afitech's appeal to block new entrants, confirming that LONASE could appoint an additional monitoring provider. Investigative journalists have reported that Sharp Vision and Afitech share technical infrastructure and that Afitech reuses Sharp Vision's API libraries, though both companies describe the arrangement as a standard licensing agreement. Critics have also raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest, alleging that Afitech both monitors and operates betting platforms under the same contract.
Olofofo affair and press-freedom concerns
In June 2025 the Beninese investigative outlet Olofofo published a cover story portraying Sharp Vision as a “neo-colonial Trojan horse” for France's state betting operator PMU. They claimed the firm was advancing French commercial interests under the guise of regulatory reform. Two weeks later Olofofo's founder, journalist Hugues Comlan Sossoukpè, was arrested in Benin after returning from exile. While there is no evidence linking Sharp Vision or Honoré Gaming to the arrest, advocacy groups noted the timing and warned of a chilling effect on investigative journalism about European corporate activity in West Africa.