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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
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LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is growing in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems established by homegrown innovation firms that are beginning to make online companies more viable.
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For several years, mobile payments stopped working to remove in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa cash transfers have actually promoted a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and slow web speeds have actually held Nigerian online customers back however wagering firms says the brand-new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering mindsets towards online transactions.

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

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

That growth has 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 first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of almost 190 million, increasing mobile phone usage and falling data expenses, Nigeria has long been viewed as a fantastic chance for online services - once consumers feel comfy with .
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Online gaming companies say that is occurring, though reaching the tens of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays an obstacle for pure online retailers.

British online wagering 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 gradual shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria supervisor Lere Awokoya said.

"The growth in the number of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has assisted the business to thrive. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start running in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

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

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

"We added Paystack as one of our payment alternatives without any fanfare, without announcing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the primary most pre-owned payment choice on the website," stated Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the country's 2nd biggest sports betting firm, now had 2 million routine clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment option given that it was included in late 2017.

Paystack was established by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early stage financing in Silicon 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 mad Ikeja district of Lagos, said the variety of month-to-month transactions 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," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an environment of developers had actually emerged around Paystack, developing software to integrate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a development because community and they have carried us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack stated it allows payments for a number of wagering firms however likewise a wide variety of services, from utility services to transfer companies to insurer Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program along with 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 accompanied the arrival of foreign financiers wishing to take advantage of sports betting.

Industry professionals state 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 both set up in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet led the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm introduced in 2015.

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

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

He stated the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had an extensive network. Nigerian sports betting stores frequently act as social hubs where clients can see soccer totally free of charge while placing bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the busy Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans collected to see Nigeria's last heat up video 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 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 a person day I will win," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos