Online Betting Firms Gamble on Soccer-mad Nigeria > 자유게시판

By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is flourishing in soccer-mad Nigeria mostly thanks to payment systems established by homegrown innovation firms that are beginning to make online companies more feasible.

For 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 actually cultivated a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic scams and slow web speeds have held Nigerian online consumers back but wagering firms says the new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their websites are changing attitudes towards online transactions.

"We have actually seen significant development in the number of payment solutions that are available. All that is definitely altering the video gaming space," 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 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 development 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 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 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 information costs, Nigeria has actually long been viewed as a great opportunity for online organizations - once customers feel comfy with electronic payments.

firms state that is occurring, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays an obstacle for pure online retailers.

British online sports betting firm Betway opened its very first African company in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It launched 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 variety of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has helped the company to thrive. These technological shifts motivated Betway to begin running in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

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

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

"We included Paystack as one of our payment choices without any excitement, without announcing to our clients, and within a month it shot up to the primary most used payment option on the site," stated Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the nation's second biggest wagering company, now had 2 million regular customers on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment alternative considering that it was included in late 2017.

Paystack was set up by two Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early phase funding 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, said the variety of regular monthly 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 month," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

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

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of sports betting firms but likewise a wide variety of organizations, from utility services to carry business to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program as well as 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 actually accompanied the arrival of foreign financiers intending to tap into sports betting.

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 the organization is more developed.

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

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were split between shops and online but the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and ability for clients to prevent the stigma of sports betting in public indicated online transactions would grow.

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

He said the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had an extensive network. Nigerian sports betting shops frequently act as social hubs where customers can see soccer complimentary of charge while positioning bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the busy Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered 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 fixated on a television screen inside. He stated he began sports betting three months ago and bets approximately 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," stated Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos; editing by David Clarke)