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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is expanding in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown technology companies that are beginning to make online services more practical.

For many years, mobile payments stopped working to take off in Nigeria as they have in nations such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have cultivated a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish web speeds have actually held Nigerian online consumers back but sports betting companies states the brand-new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering mindsets towards online deals.

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

"The operators will opt for whoever is quicker, whoever can link to their platform with less concerns and problems," he said, adding 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 a rise in web payments, according to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the reserve bank and certified banks.
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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 nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.
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With a young population of nearly 190 million, increasing smart phone usage and falling data expenses, Nigeria has actually long been viewed as a fantastic chance for online companies - once customers feel comfy with electronic payments.

Online gaming companies state that is taking place, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services stays a difficulty for pure online sellers.
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British online wagering company Betway opened its 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 industry is going," Betway's Nigeria manager Lere Awokoya said.

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

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's involvement worldwide Cup say they are discovering the payment systems created by local startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

Paystack and another local startup Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are offering competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the primary platform utilized by services running in Nigeria.

"We included Paystack as one of our payment choices without any excitement, without revealing to our customers, and within a month it soared to the number one most secondhand payment alternative on the website," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the country's second most significant sports betting firm, now had 2 million routine customers on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack stayed the most popular payment choice because it was added in late 2017.

Paystack was established by two Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early phase funding in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator programme.

In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from investors including 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 every single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an ecosystem of designers had actually emerged around Paystack, producing software to integrate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a development in that community and they have actually brought us along," said Quartey.

Paystack said it makes it possible for payments for a number of wagering firms however likewise a broad range of businesses, from energy services to carry companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator programme in addition to endeavor capitalists Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million last year.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT
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Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have actually coincided with the arrival of foreign financiers hoping to tap into sports betting wagering.

Industry professionals say the sector produces about $1 billion a year and is likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where business 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 was ahead of the pattern, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were between shops and online but the ease of electronic payments, expense of running stores and ability for clients to avoid the preconception of gambling in public meant online deals would grow.

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was necessary to have a shop network, not least because numerous customers still stay unwilling to spend online.

He said the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian wagering shops often act as social centers where clients can enjoy 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 enjoy Nigeria's last heat up 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 said he began gambling three months earlier and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

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