Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer-mad Nigeria > 자유게시판

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown technology firms that are beginning to make online companies more practical.

For several years, mobile payments failed to remove 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 slow web speeds have held Nigerian online customers back however wagering firms says the brand-new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have actually seen considerable development in the number of payment solutions that are offered. All that is certainly changing the gaming area," said 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 connect to their platform with less issues and problems," he stated, including 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 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 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 almost 190 million, rising smart phone usage and falling information costs, Nigeria has long been viewed as a fantastic opportunity for online organizations - once consumers feel comfy with electronic payments.

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

British online wagering firm Betway opened its first African service in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It introduced in Nigeria in January.

"There is a gradual 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 federal government as an enabler, has actually helped the business to flourish. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start running in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

capitalizing the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation in the World Cup state they are finding the payment systems developed by local start-ups such as Paystack are proving 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 main platform utilized by organizations running in Nigeria.

"We included Paystack as one of our payment options without any excitement, without announcing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the number one most used payment alternative on the site," said Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the country's 2nd most significant wagering company, now had 2 million routine customers 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 established by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early phase 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, said the number of month-to-month transactions it processed rose 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 an environment of designers had emerged around Paystack, developing software to integrate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a development in that community and they have carried us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack said it allows payments for a variety of sports betting companies but also a broad variety of organizations, from utility services to transfer companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

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

Industry experts 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 established.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm released in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided in between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for clients to avoid the stigma of gambling in public meant 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 store network, not least due to the fact that 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 wagering stores frequently function as social hubs where clients can view soccer free of charge while placing bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the busy Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered to view Nigeria's last warm up 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 stated he began sports betting 3 months back and bets up to 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have been playing I have not won anything but I think 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)