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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is growing in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown innovation companies that are beginning to make online organizations more practical.

For 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 sluggish 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 options that are available. All that is certainly altering the video gaming space," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's commercial capital.
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"The operators will go with whoever is much faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less problems and glitches," he stated, including that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State increased 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That development 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 central bank and licensed 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 first of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of almost 190 million, rising cellphone use and falling information expenses, Nigeria has long been seen as a terrific chance for online services - once customers feel comfy with electronic payments.

Online gaming firms say that is occurring, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services stays a difficulty for pure online sellers.

British online wagering company Betway opened its first African business 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 market is going," Betway's Nigeria supervisor Lere Awokoya said.

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation in the World Cup say they are finding the payment systems created by local startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another regional start-up Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are offering competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the primary platform utilized by services running in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment choices without any excitement, without revealing to our clients, and within a month it soared to the number one most pre-owned payment choice on the site," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the nation's 2nd greatest wagering company, now had 2 million regular consumers on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment alternative since it was included late 2017.

Paystack was established by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early phase financing in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator programme.

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, stated the variety of regular monthly deals it processed rose from about 8,000 in early 2016 to more than 900,000 as of June 2018.
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"In early 2016 we were processing about $3,000 a month. Today we process well over $11 million every month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

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

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of wagering companies but likewise a vast array of businesses, from energy services to transfer companies to insurance company Axa Mansard.
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Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator programme along with 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 corresponded with the arrival of foreign financiers intending to tap into sports betting wagering.
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Industry experts state the sector creates about $1 billion a year and is most likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where business is more developed.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually 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 released in 2015.
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NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were divided in between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for consumers to avoid the stigma of sports betting 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 essential to have a shop network, not least due to the fact that numerous clients still remain reluctant to spend online.

He said the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian sports betting shops frequently serve as social hubs where customers can view soccer totally free of charge while placing bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the busy Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans collected to watch Nigeria's final warm up video game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He stated he began sports betting 3 months ago and bets approximately 1,000 naira a day.

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