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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is flourishing in largely thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown technology firms that are beginning to make online companies more practical.
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For many years, mobile payments failed to take off in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have actually fostered a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic scams and slow internet speeds have held Nigerian online customers back however wagering firms says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have seen substantial growth in the variety of payment options that are available. All that is definitely altering the video gaming area," said Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's business capital.

"The operators will choose whoever is faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less issues and problems," 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 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 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 almost 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of almost 190 million, rising cellphone usage and falling information expenses, Nigeria has long been viewed as a terrific opportunity for online companies - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online sports betting companies say that is happening, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services remains an obstacle for pure online retailers.

British online sports betting company Betway opened its first African company 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 variety of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually assisted business to thrive. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start operating in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms capitalizing the soccer frenzy whipped up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup state they are discovering the payment systems created by local start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

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

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

He stated NairaBET, the nation's second most significant wagering company, now had 2 million routine clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment alternative because it was included late 2017.

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

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

Paystack said it enables payments for a number of wagering firms however also a large range of services, from energy services to transfer companies to insurance company Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator program as well as 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 accompanied the arrival of foreign financiers wishing to tap into sports betting wagering.

Industry experts state the sector generates about $1 billion a year and is likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where the service 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 50 percent stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were divided between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and capability for consumers to avoid the stigma of gambling in public implied online deals would grow.

But despite advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was essential to have a shop network, not least because numerous consumers still stay hesitant to spend online.

He said the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had an extensive network. Nigerian wagering stores often act as social hubs where clients can watch soccer complimentary of charge while placing bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the busy Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered to see Nigeria's final heat up video game before the World Cup.
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Richard Onuka, a factory employee who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a TV screen inside. He stated he began gambling 3 months back and bets up to 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