Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer-mad Nigeria > 자유게시판

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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

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

For many 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 fostered a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish internet speeds have held Nigerian online consumers back but wagering firms says the brand-new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing attitudes towards online deals.

"We have actually seen considerable development in the variety of payment options that are readily available. All that is absolutely changing the gaming space," said 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 concerns and problems," he stated, adding that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State increased 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 very first quarter of 2018 there were almost 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of nearly 190 million, rising mobile phone use and falling data costs, Nigeria has actually long been viewed as a terrific chance for online businesses - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online sports betting firms state that is occurring, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online retailers.

British online sports betting firm 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 steady shift to online now, that is where the industry is going," Betway's Nigeria supervisor Lere Awokoya said.

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer craze whipped up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup say they are discovering the payment systems produced by local start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

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

"We included Paystack as one of our payment options with no fanfare, without announcing to our clients, and within a month it soared to the primary most pre-owned payment choice on the site," stated Akin Alabi, creator of .

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

Paystack was set up by 2 Nigerian computer science graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early phase financing 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 number of monthly deals it processed increased 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 every single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

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

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of sports betting companies however also a wide variety of organizations, from energy services to transport business to insurance company Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator program 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 financiers wishing to take advantage of sports betting wagering.

Industry professionals say 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 led the pattern, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company introduced in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided in between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and ability for consumers to avoid the preconception of gambling in public indicated online transactions 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 shop network, not least because many customers still remain reluctant to spend online.

He said the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian wagering shops typically act as social centers where clients can enjoy soccer complimentary of charge while positioning bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, dozens of soccer fans collected to enjoy Nigeria's last warm up video game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who earns 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a TV screen inside. He said 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 but I believe that one day I will win," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos; modifying by David Clarke)