Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer-mad Nigeria > 자유게시판

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown innovation firms that are starting to make online services more feasible.

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

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish internet speeds have held Nigerian online consumers back but wagering firms states the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have seen significant development in the variety of payment options that are offered. All that is definitely 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 faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less problems and problems," he said, including that taxes from in Lagos State rose 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That development 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 main bank and certified 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 cellphone usage and falling data expenses, Nigeria has actually long been seen as an excellent opportunity for online organizations - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gaming companies say that is happening, though reaching the tens of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services remains an obstacle for pure online merchants.

British online wagering firm Betway opened its first African company in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It released in Nigeria in January.

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

"The development in the number of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has assisted the company to thrive. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to begin operating in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

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

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

"We added Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no excitement, without announcing to our customers, and within a month it soared to the number one most pre-owned payment choice on the site," stated Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the country's second greatest wagering firm, now had 2 million routine clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack stayed the most popular payment option because it was included in late 2017.

Paystack was set up by 2 Nigerian computer system science 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 as of 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 development.

He stated a community of designers had emerged around Paystack, producing software to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have seen a growth in that community and they have brought us along," said Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a number of wagering companies however likewise a large range of services, from energy services to transfer business to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator programme as well as venture capitalists Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million last year.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

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

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

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have both established in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were split between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and ability for customers to avoid the preconception of gaming in public meant online deals would grow.

But regardless of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was important to have a store network, not least since many customers still stay hesitant to spend online.

He stated the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian sports betting stores frequently act as social centers where consumers can view soccer complimentary of charge while positioning bets.

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

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He stated he started gambling 3 months earlier and bets approximately 1,000 naira a day.

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

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