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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
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LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is flourishing in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown technology companies that are starting to make more feasible.
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For several years, mobile payments failed to take off in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have promoted a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish web speeds have actually held Nigerian online consumers back however wagering firms says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are changing attitudes towards online transactions.

"We have seen considerable development in the variety of payment solutions that are available. All that is certainly altering the video gaming space," said Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's industrial capital.

"The operators will opt for whoever is much faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less concerns and glitches," he stated, adding that taxes from sports betting 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 data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the central 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 cellphone use and falling data expenses, Nigeria has long been seen as a terrific chance for online companies - once consumers feel comfy with electronic payments.

Online sports betting firms state that is happening, though reaching the 10s of countless Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online sellers.

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

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer craze whipped up by Nigeria's participation worldwide Cup state they are discovering the payment systems produced by regional startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

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

"We included Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no fanfare, without revealing to our customers, and within a month it soared to the primary most used payment alternative on the website," stated Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the country's second greatest wagering 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 added in late 2017.

Paystack was established by two Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early phase financing 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 monthly transactions it processed rose 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 month," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

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

Paystack said it enables payments for a number of sports betting companies but also a vast array of organizations, from utility services to carry companies to insurance company Axa Mansard.
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Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator programme as well as 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 actually accompanied the arrival of foreign investors hoping to tap into sports betting.

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

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 introduced in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were divided between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for customers to prevent the stigma of gaming in public implied online deals 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 because lots of consumers still remain reluctant to spend online.

He stated the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian sports betting stores frequently serve as social hubs where clients can enjoy soccer complimentary of charge while placing bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the bustling Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered to watch Nigeria's final heat up game before the World Cup.
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Richard Onuka, a factory worker who earns 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a television screen inside. He said he started gambling three months back and bets approximately 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