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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems established by homegrown technology companies that are beginning to make online businesses more viable.

For several 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 scams and sluggish internet speeds have actually held Nigerian online customers back but wagering companies states the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their sites are changing mindsets towards online deals.

"We have actually seen substantial development in the number of payment solutions that are offered. All that is certainly changing the video gaming area," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's commercial capital.

"The operators will choose whoever is quicker, whoever can connect to their platform with less concerns and problems," he stated, including that taxes from sports betting wagering 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 information from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the main bank and certified banks.

In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth an overall 132 billion naira ($420 million). jumped to 29 million worth 185 billion in 2017 and in the very first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.
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With a young population of almost 190 million, rising cellphone use and falling data expenses, Nigeria has long been viewed as a great opportunity for online organizations - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gaming companies say that is taking place, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays an obstacle for pure online sellers.

British online wagering firm Betway opened its very first African company in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It introduced in Nigeria in January.
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"There is a steady shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria manager Lere Awokoya said.

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation in the World Cup state they are discovering the payment systems produced by regional startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

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

"We added Paystack as one of our payment options without any fanfare, without revealing to our customers, and within a month it shot up to the primary most pre-owned payment alternative on the site," stated Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the nation's second most significant sports betting firm, now had 2 million regular customers on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack stayed the most popular payment option considering that it was included late 2017.

Paystack was set up by two Nigerian computer system science graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early stage funding 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 frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the number of monthly deals it processed increased 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 growth.

He said a community of designers had emerged around Paystack, producing software application to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a growth because community and they have brought us along," said Quartey.

Paystack said it allows payments for a variety of sports betting firms but also a vast array of services, from utility services to transfer companies to insurance company 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 last year.
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FOREIGN INVESTMENT
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Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have coincided with the arrival of foreign investors hoping to take advantage of sports betting.

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 established.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have both established in Nigeria in the last 2 years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the trend, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company released in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided in between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for clients to prevent the stigma of sports betting in public suggested online transactions would grow.

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was necessary to have a shop network, not least since lots of customers still stay hesitant to invest online.

He said the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian sports betting shops typically serve as social centers where clients can view soccer totally free of charge while putting bets.
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At a BetKing hall deep inside the bustling Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans collected to watch Nigeria's last heat up video game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who earns 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a TV screen inside. He said he started sports betting 3 months ago 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," stated Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos