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 wagering is booming in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to systems developed by homegrown technology firms that are beginning to make online organizations more viable.

For several years, mobile payments stopped working to take off in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have actually promoted a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish web speeds have held Nigerian online customers back however wagering firms says the brand-new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing attitudes towards online transactions.

"We have actually seen significant development in the number of payment options that are readily available. All that is absolutely altering the video gaming space," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's industrial capital.

"The operators will choose whoever is quicker, whoever can link to their platform with less issues and glitches," he said, including that taxes from sports betting in Lagos State rose 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 reserve bank and licensed banks.

In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth an overall 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 cellphone use and falling information expenses, Nigeria has actually long been viewed as a fantastic chance for online businesses - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling firms state that is happening, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services remains a difficulty for pure online retailers.

British online wagering company Betway opened its very first African organization in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It released in Nigeria in January.

"There is a progressive shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria manager Lere Awokoya stated.

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer craze worked up by Nigeria's involvement in the World Cup state they are discovering the payment systems created by regional startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another regional startup Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are providing competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the main platform utilized by companies running in Nigeria.

"We included Paystack as one of our payment options with no fanfare, without revealing to our customers, and within a month it soared to the number one most used payment choice on the site," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the country's second greatest wagering firm, now had 2 million regular clients on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack stayed the most popular payment option considering that it was added in late 2017.

Paystack was set up by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early stage 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, said the number of regular monthly transactions 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," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an environment of designers had actually emerged around Paystack, creating software application to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a development because neighborhood and they have actually brought us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack stated it enables payments for a variety of wagering companies but likewise a wide variety of services, from energy services to transport companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program in addition to 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 wanting to use sports betting wagering.

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

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up 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 firm introduced in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were divided in between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and capability for consumers to avoid the preconception of gaming in public implied online transactions would grow.

But despite advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was necessary to have a shop network, not least since many consumers still stay unwilling 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 often act as social centers where customers can enjoy soccer free of charge while putting bets.

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

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who earns 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a TV screen inside. He said he began gambling 3 months back and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have actually been playing I have not won anything however 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)