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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is flourishing in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems established by homegrown innovation firms that are beginning to make online services more viable.

For many 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 promoted a culture of cashless payments.

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

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

"The operators will choose whoever is much faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less issues and problems," he stated, adding 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 data 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 leapt to 29 million worth 185 billion in 2017 and in the first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of nearly 190 million, increasing mobile phone use and falling data expenses, Nigeria has actually long been viewed as a terrific opportunity for online companies - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling firms state that is occurring, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services remains a difficulty for pure online sellers.

British online sports betting firm Betway opened its very first African business in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It introduced in Nigeria in January.

"There is a gradual shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria manager Lere Awokoya stated.

"The growth in the number of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has helped business to flourish. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to start operating in Nigeria," he stated.
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FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer craze worked up by Nigeria's involvement in the World Cup state they are discovering the payment systems produced by regional start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.
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Paystack and another local start-up Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are supplying competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the primary platform utilized by organizations running in Nigeria.
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"We added Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no fanfare, without revealing 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 stated NairaBET, the country's 2nd biggest wagering company, now had 2 million routine clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment option considering 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 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, stated the variety of regular monthly 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," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an environment of developers had actually emerged around Paystack, creating software application to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have seen a development because community and they have actually carried us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack stated it enables payments for a variety of sports betting companies however also a large range of companies, from energy services to carry business to insurer Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program 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 corresponded with the arrival of foreign investors wanting to take advantage of sports betting.

Industry professionals say the sector creates about $1 billion a year and is most likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where the service is more developed.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up 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 company launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were divided between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running stores and capability for clients to avoid the stigma of sports betting in public indicated online deals would grow.
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But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was essential to have a store network, not least because many consumers still remain unwilling to spend online.

He stated the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian wagering stores frequently act as social hubs where clients can see soccer totally free of charge while positioning bets.
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At a BetKing hall deep inside the bustling Oshodi market in Lagos, dozens of soccer fans gathered to view Nigeria's final heat up video game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who earns 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a television 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 but I think that one day I will win," stated Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos