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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown technology firms that are starting to make online organizations more practical.
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For years, mobile payments stopped working to remove in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa cash transfers have promoted a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish web speeds have held Nigerian online consumers back but sports betting firms says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are altering mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have actually seen considerable growth in the number of payment options that are readily available. All that is definitely changing the gaming space," said Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's business capital.

"The operators will go with whoever is faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less issues and glitches," he said, 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 a rise 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 a total 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 usage and falling information expenses, Nigeria has long been viewed as a terrific chance for online organizations - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling companies say that is taking place, though reaching the tens of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online retailers.

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

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup state they are finding the payment systems developed by local start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

Paystack and another regional startup Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are offering competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the main platform used by services operating in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no excitement, without announcing to our clients, and within a month it soared to the top most pre-owned payment choice on the site," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the nation's 2nd biggest wagering company, now had 2 million routine consumers on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment option considering that it was added in late 2017.

Paystack was set up by two Nigerian computer system science 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 financiers including China's Tencent and Comcast Ventures in the United States.

Paystack, based in the mad Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the number of month-to-month 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 each and every single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

He said an ecosystem of developers had actually emerged around Paystack, producing software to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have actually seen a growth in that community and they have actually carried us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of sports betting companies but likewise a wide range of companies, from energy services to transport companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

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 in 2015.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have actually with the arrival of foreign investors wishing to tap into sports betting.

Industry professionals state the sector generates 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 actually both established in Nigeria in the last 2 years while Italy's Goldbet led the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were split in between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for customers to avoid the preconception of sports betting in public meant online deals would grow.

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

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

At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, dozens of soccer fans collected to watch Nigeria's last heat up video game before the World Cup.
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Richard Onuka, a factory worker who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He said he started sports betting three months back and bets approximately 1,000 naira a day.

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