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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 innovation firms that are beginning to make online companies more viable.

For years, mobile payments failed to remove in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have actually cultivated a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic scams and sluggish web speeds have held Nigerian online customers back but sports betting firms says the brand-new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their websites are changing attitudes towards online deals.

"We have actually seen substantial growth in the variety of payment solutions that are available. All that is certainly changing the video gaming space," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's business capital.

"The operators will go with whoever is quicker, whoever can link to their platform with less problems and glitches," he said, adding 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 data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the reserve bank and certified 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 very first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of almost 190 million, rising smart phone use and falling information expenses, Nigeria has long been seen as a fantastic opportunity for online companies - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling firms state that is taking place, though reaching the 10s of countless Nigerians without access to banking services remains a for pure online retailers.

British online sports betting company 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 industry is going," Betway's Nigeria supervisor Lere Awokoya stated.
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"The development in the variety of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has actually helped the company to flourish. These technological shifts motivated Betway to begin operating in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer craze whipped up by Nigeria's participation in the World Cup say they are discovering the payment systems developed by local start-ups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another regional start-up Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are supplying competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the main platform utilized by organizations operating in Nigeria.

"We included Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no fanfare, without revealing to our customers, and within a month it soared to the top most pre-owned payment alternative on the website," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the nation's 2nd biggest wagering company, now had 2 million routine clients on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment choice since it was included late 2017.

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

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

Paystack, based in the mad Ikeja district of Lagos, said the variety of month-to-month deals 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 single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

He stated an ecosystem of designers had emerged around Paystack, developing software to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have seen a development because neighborhood and they have carried us along," said Quartey.

Paystack said it allows payments for a variety of sports betting companies but likewise a wide variety of companies, from utility 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 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 actually accompanied the arrival of foreign financiers wanting to take advantage of 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 business is more developed.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have both set up in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company introduced in 2015.
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NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were split between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, cost of running stores and capability for consumers to avoid the stigma of gaming in public indicated online transactions would grow.

But regardless of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was very important to have a shop network, not least since many customers still stay unwilling to invest online.

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

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

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who earns 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a TV screen inside. He stated he started gambling three months earlier and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

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