Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer-mad Nigeria > 자유게시판

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

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

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

Fear of electronic scams and slow internet speeds have actually held Nigerian online consumers back however sports betting companies says the new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their sites are altering mindsets towards online transactions.

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

"The operators will choose whoever is faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less issues and problems," he stated, including that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State rose 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 main 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 almost 190 million, increasing mobile phone usage and falling information expenses, Nigeria has actually long been viewed as an excellent chance for online companies - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling companies say that is taking place, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services remains a difficulty for pure online sellers.

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

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

"The development in the variety of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually helped the organization to thrive. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to start running in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer craze whipped up by Nigeria's involvement worldwide Cup say they are discovering the payment systems produced by local startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another local startup Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are providing competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the primary platform used by services running in Nigeria.

"We included Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no fanfare, without announcing to our consumers, and within a month it soared to the primary most pre-owned payment alternative on the site," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the nation's 2nd biggest sports betting firm, now had 2 million regular customers on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment option since it was included in late 2017.

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

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

Paystack, based in the frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the number of month-to-month deals it processed increased 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 month," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

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

Paystack stated it enables payments for a variety of sports betting companies but also a vast array of companies, from utility services to transport business to insurer 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 last year.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have accompanied the arrival of foreign investors wanting to take advantage of sports betting wagering.

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

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have 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 released in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided between shops and online but the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and capability for clients to avoid the preconception of gambling in public implied online deals would grow.

But despite advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was very important to have a shop network, not least since lots of consumers still remain hesitant to spend online.

He said the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a substantial network. Nigerian wagering shops typically function 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 enjoy Nigeria's final heat up video game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who makes 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a television screen inside. He said he began gambling three months earlier and bets up to 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have been playing I have actually not won anything however I believe that a person 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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