1 Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer mad Nigeria
ruebenjudge038 edited this page 2 months ago

bet9ja.com
By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
bet9ja.com
LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is booming in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems established by homegrown innovation firms that are starting to make online services more practical.
bit.ly
For many years, mobile payments failed to remove in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have actually cultivated a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and slow internet speeds have actually held Nigerian online customers back but sports betting firms says the brand-new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are altering attitudes towards online deals.

"We have seen considerable development in the number of payment solutions that are offered. All that is certainly altering the gaming area," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's business capital.

"The operators will opt for whoever is quicker, whoever can link to their platform with less issues and glitches," he said, adding that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State increased 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.
bet9ja.com
That growth has been matched by a rise 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 a total 132 billion naira ($420 million). Transactions jumped 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 mobile phone use and falling information costs, Nigeria has actually long been seen as a terrific chance for online organizations - once customers feel comfy with electronic payments.
bit.ly
Online gaming firms state that is happening, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online sellers.

British online sports betting company Betway opened its first African business 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 manager Lere Awokoya stated.

"The growth in the variety of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually helped business to prosper. These technological shifts motivated Betway to begin operating in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer frenzy whipped up by Nigeria's participation worldwide Cup state they are the payment systems created by local startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another regional start-up Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are providing competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the main platform used by businesses operating in Nigeria.
bet9ja.com
"We included Paystack as one of our payment alternatives without any excitement, without revealing to our customers, and within a month it soared to the number one most secondhand payment option on the site," stated Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the nation's 2nd biggest sports betting company, now had 2 million routine customers on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment alternative since it was included in late 2017.
bet9ja.com
Paystack was set up by two 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 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 single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

He stated a community of developers had emerged around Paystack, creating software to integrate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a development because neighborhood and they have actually brought us along," said Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a number of sports betting firms however likewise a broad range of organizations, from energy services to transfer business to insurance company Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also 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 intending to tap into sports betting wagering.

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

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

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were split between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running stores and ability for consumers to prevent the preconception of gambling 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 very important to have a store network, not least due to the fact that lots of clients still remain hesitant to spend online.

He stated the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian sports betting shops typically serve as social hubs where consumers can view soccer complimentary of charge while placing bets.

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

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who earns 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a TV screen inside. He said he began sports betting three months back and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

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