Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer-mad Nigeria > 자유게시판

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is flourishing in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems established by homegrown innovation firms that are starting to make online businesses more viable.

For several years, mobile payments failed to take off in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa cash transfers have promoted a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic scams and slow internet speeds have held Nigerian online consumers back however sports betting firms says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing mindsets towards online deals.

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

"The operators will choose whoever is much faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less issues and glitches," he said, adding that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State rose 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That development has been matched by an increase in web payments, according to data 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 first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of nearly 190 million, rising cellphone use and falling data expenses, Nigeria has long been seen as an excellent opportunity for online companies - once customers feel comfy with electronic payments.

Online gambling companies state that is occurring, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online sellers.

British online wagering company Betway opened its very first African company in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It introduced 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 federal government as an enabler, has actually assisted the organization to thrive. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start operating in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup state they are discovering the payment systems developed by regional start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

Paystack and another regional startup Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are providing competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the main platform utilized by companies running in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment choices without any fanfare, without announcing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the number one most secondhand payment choice on the site," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the country's 2nd greatest sports betting company, now had 2 million on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment choice because it was added in late 2017.

Paystack was established by 2 Nigerian computer system science graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early stage financing in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator program.

In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from investors 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 monthly deals it processed increased 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," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an ecosystem of designers had actually emerged around Paystack, creating software to integrate the platform into sites. "We have seen a growth because neighborhood and they have brought us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of wagering companies however also a large range of services, from utility services to carry business to insurer Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program in addition to investor Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million in 2015.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have corresponded with the arrival of foreign investors wanting to use sports betting wagering.

Industry experts say the sector generates about $1 billion a year and is likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where business 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 led the pattern, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company introduced in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running stores and capability for consumers to avoid the stigma of sports betting in public implied online transactions would grow.

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was necessary to have a store network, not least because numerous clients still remain reluctant to spend online.

He said the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian wagering stores typically serve as social centers where consumers can enjoy soccer complimentary of charge while putting bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, dozens of soccer fans gathered to watch Nigeria's final heat up video game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who makes 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a TV screen inside. He stated he began sports betting three months earlier and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have been playing I have not won anything but I believe that one day I will win," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos; modifying by David Clarke)

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