GitLab

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
bet9ja.com
LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria mostly thanks to payment systems established by homegrown technology companies that are starting to make online companies more viable.

For years, mobile payments stopped working to remove in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa cash transfers have promoted a culture of cashless payments.
bit.ly
Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish internet speeds have held Nigerian online consumers back but sports betting companies states the brand-new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering mindsets towards online deals.

"We have seen significant development in the variety of payment solutions that are readily available. All that is absolutely changing the gaming space," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's business capital.

"The operators will opt for whoever is much faster, whoever can link to their platform with less issues and glitches," he stated, including that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State increased 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That growth has actually been matched by a rise in web payments, according to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the central bank and licensed banks.

In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth an overall 132 billion naira ($420 million). Transactions leapt to 29 million worth 185 billion in 2017 and in the first quarter of 2018 there were almost 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of nearly 190 million, increasing smart phone use and falling data costs, has actually long been seen as a terrific opportunity for online companies - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling firms say that is happening, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online sellers.
bet9ja.com
British online sports betting company Betway opened its first African business in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It launched in Nigeria in January.

"There is a gradual shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria manager Lere Awokoya said.

"The growth in the variety of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has helped business to grow. These technological shifts motivated Betway to begin operating in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer frenzy whipped up by Nigeria's involvement on the planet Cup state they are discovering the payment systems produced by local start-ups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another local start-up Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are supplying competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the main platform used by businesses operating in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment alternatives without any excitement, without revealing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the number one most pre-owned payment option on the website," said Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the nation's second most significant wagering firm, now had 2 million routine clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment alternative considering that it was added in late 2017.
bit.ly
Paystack was established by two Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early phase funding in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator programme.

In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from investors including China's Tencent and Comcast Ventures in the United States.

Paystack, based in the frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the variety of regular monthly deals it processed rose from about 8,000 in early 2016 to more than 900,000 since June 2018.

"In early 2016 we were processing about $3,000 a month. Today we process well over $11 million each and every single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

He stated an environment of designers had actually emerged around Paystack, developing software to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have seen a growth because community and they have actually carried us along," said Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of sports betting firms however also a vast array of companies, from utility services to transport companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator programme along with investor Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million in 2015.
bit.ly
FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have actually accompanied the arrival of foreign investors wanting to tap into sports betting.

Industry specialists state the sector produces about $1 billion a year and is most likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where business is more developed.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet led the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company introduced in 2015.
bet9ja.com
NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were split between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running stores and ability for consumers to prevent the preconception of gambling in public suggested online transactions would grow.

But regardless of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was essential to have a store network, not least because lots of clients still remain reluctant to invest online.

He said the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian wagering shops frequently act as social hubs where clients can view soccer complimentary of charge while positioning bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered to enjoy Nigeria's last warm up game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a TV screen inside. He said he began sports betting 3 months ago and bets up to 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have actually been playing I have actually not won anything but I think that a person day I will win," stated Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos; editing by David Clarke)
bet9ja.com