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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 largely thanks to payment systems established by homegrown technology companies that are beginning to make online organizations more viable.
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For years, mobile payments stopped working to take off in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa cash transfers have actually fostered a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and slow internet speeds have actually held Nigerian online consumers back however sports betting firms says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering mindsets towards online deals.

"We have seen considerable growth in the number of payment solutions that are readily available. All that is definitely altering the gaming area," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's industrial capital.

"The operators will choose whoever is quicker, whoever can connect to their platform with less problems and problems," he said, including that taxes from sports betting in Lagos State rose 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That development has been matched by a rise in web payments, according to information from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the main bank and certified banks.

In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth a total 132 billion naira ($420 million). Transactions jumped to 29 million worth 185 billion in 2017 and in the very first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of almost 190 million, increasing cellphone usage and falling information costs, Nigeria has long been seen as a great opportunity for online companies - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.
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Online gambling firms say that is occurring, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services stays an obstacle for pure online sellers.

British online wagering firm Betway opened its 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 supervisor Lere Awokoya said.

"The development in the variety of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has assisted the company to grow. These technological shifts motivated Betway to begin operating in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation in the World Cup say they are finding the payment systems created by regional startups such as Paystack are showing 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 used by companies operating in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment choices with no excitement, without announcing to our clients, and within a month it soared to the number one most used payment alternative on the website," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the country's 2nd biggest sports betting company, now had 2 million regular customers on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment choice given that it was included 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 program.

In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from financiers including China's Tencent and Comcast Ventures in the United States.

Paystack, based in the frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, said the variety of 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 single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an ecosystem of developers had emerged around Paystack, creating software to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have actually seen a development because community and they have brought us along," stated Quartey.
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Paystack said it makes it possible for payments for a number of sports betting firms but likewise a large range of companies, from utility services to transport business 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 endeavor capitalists 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 corresponded with the arrival of foreign financiers wishing to use sports betting.

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

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 split between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and capability for customers to avoid the preconception 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 because many clients still stay reluctant to invest online.

He stated the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a substantial network. Nigerian wagering shops typically function as social centers where consumers can view soccer complimentary of charge while positioning bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the busy Oshodi market in Lagos, dozens of soccer fans to view Nigeria's final heat up game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He said he started sports betting three months ago and bets up to 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have actually been playing I have not won anything however I think that a person day I will win," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos