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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
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LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems established by homegrown innovation firms that are starting to make online services more practical.
For many years, mobile payments stopped working to take off in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa cash transfers have actually cultivated a culture of cashless payments.
Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish web speeds have held Nigerian online customers back however wagering firms says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering attitudes towards online deals.
"We have seen considerable development in the number of payment services that are available. All that is definitely changing the gaming space," said Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's commercial capital.
"The operators will go with whoever is quicker, whoever can link to their platform with less problems and problems," he said, 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 an increase in web payments, according to information from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the reserve bank and certified banks.
In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth an overall 132 billion naira ($420 million). Transactions jumped to 29 million worth 185 billion in 2017 and in the very first quarter of 2018 there were almost 10 million worth 61 billion.
With a young population of almost 190 million, increasing mobile phone usage and falling data costs, Nigeria has long been viewed as a fantastic opportunity for online businesses - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.
Online gambling firms say that is happening, though reaching the 10s of countless Nigerians without access to banking services remains an obstacle for pure online sellers.
British online wagering firm Betway opened its first African organization in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It released in Nigeria in January.
"There is a gradual shift to online now, that is where the industry is going," Betway's Nigeria supervisor Lere Awokoya said.
"The development in the number of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has actually assisted business to grow. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to begin running in Nigeria," he stated.
FINTECH COMPETITION
sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer frenzy whipped up by Nigeria's involvement worldwide Cup say they are finding the payment systems created by regional startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.
Paystack and another local start-up Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are supplying competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the main platform utilized by companies running in Nigeria.
"We included Paystack as one of our payment choices with no fanfare, without announcing to our customers, and within a month it shot up to the top most pre-owned payment option on the site," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.
He stated NairaBET, the nation's second biggest wagering firm, now had 2 million routine clients on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment alternative given that it was added in late 2017.
Paystack was set up by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early phase financing in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator programme.
In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from financiers consisting of China's Tencent and Comcast Ventures in the United States.
Paystack, based in the mad Ikeja district of Lagos, said the number of month-to-month 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 every single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.
He stated a community of designers had emerged around Paystack, producing software to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have seen a growth because community and they have actually carried us along," said Quartey.
Paystack said it makes it possible for payments for a variety of sports betting firms however also a large range of companies, from utility services to transport companies to insurance company Axa Mansard.
Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator programme as well as investor Greycroft Partners and Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million in 2015.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have coincided with the arrival of foreign financiers intending to use sports betting.
Industry professionals say the sector generates about $1 billion a year and is most likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where the service is more established.
Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the pattern, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company launched in 2015.
NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were divided between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for clients to prevent the preconception of sports betting in public indicated online transactions would grow.
But despite advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was essential to have a shop network, not least because lots of customers still stay hesitant to spend online.
He stated the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian wagering shops frequently serve as social hubs where consumers can see soccer free of charge while placing bets.
At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered to watch Nigeria's last warm up game before the World Cup.
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Richard Onuka, a factory worker who earns 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a television screen inside. He said he began sports betting 3 months ago and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.
"Since I have been playing I have not won anything however I believe that one day I will win," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos
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