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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
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LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems established by homegrown technology companies that are beginning to make online companies more viable.
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For several years, mobile payments failed to take off in Nigeria as they have in countries 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 held Nigerian online consumers back however sports betting firms says the brand-new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have seen significant growth in the variety of payment options that are offered. All that is certainly altering the gaming space," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's industrial capital.

"The operators will opt for whoever is faster, whoever can link to their platform with less problems and glitches," 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 reserve bank and licensed 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 smart phone use and falling data costs, Nigeria has actually long been seen as a great opportunity for online businesses - once consumers feel comfy with electronic payments.

Online gambling companies say that is taking place, though reaching the tens of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services remains a challenge for pure online retailers.

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

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

"The development in the variety of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has actually assisted business to flourish. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to begin running in Nigeria," he stated.
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FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's involvement in the World Cup say they are finding the payment systems created by regional start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

Paystack and another regional start-up Flutterwave, both founded 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 with no fanfare, without revealing to our clients, and within a month it soared to the primary most pre-owned payment alternative on the site," said Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the nation's second biggest sports betting firm, now had 2 million routine customers on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment choice given that it was included late 2017.
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Paystack was established by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early stage funding in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator program.

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 frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the number of month-to-month transactions 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," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He said an ecosystem of developers had actually emerged around Paystack, producing software application to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a development in that neighborhood and they have carried us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack said it makes it possible for payments for a variety of wagering companies but also a wide variety of companies, from energy services to carry business to insurer Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator programme as well as 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 actually corresponded with the arrival of foreign investors hoping to take advantage of sports betting.

Industry experts 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 established.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have both established in Nigeria in the last 2 years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the pattern, taking a 50 percent stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were split in between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and capability for customers to prevent the stigma of gaming in public suggested online deals would grow.

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was essential to have a shop network, not least since numerous clients still remain hesitant to spend online.

He said the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian sports betting shops typically act 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, lots of soccer fans to watch Nigeria's last warm up game before the World Cup.
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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 3 months ago and bets up to 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have actually been playing I have 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