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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

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

For years, mobile payments stopped working to remove 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 scams and sluggish web speeds have actually held Nigerian online customers back however wagering firms states the brand-new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their websites are changing mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have actually seen considerable growth in the number of payment solutions that are readily available. All that is certainly altering the video gaming area," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's industrial capital.

"The operators will choose whoever is faster, whoever can link to their platform with less issues and problems," he said, including that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State increased 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That development has been matched by a rise in web payments, according to information from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the main 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 first quarter of 2018 there were nearly 10 million worth 61 billion.

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

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

British online wagering firm Betway opened its first African organization in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It launched in Nigeria in January.

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

"The development in the number of fintechs, and the federal government as an enabler, has actually assisted the organization to prosper. These technological shifts motivated Betway to begin operating in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION
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sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer frenzy whipped up by Nigeria's participation in the World Cup state they are discovering the payment systems developed by local startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.
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Paystack and another regional start-up Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are providing competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the primary platform used by organizations running in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment options without any excitement, without announcing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the primary most secondhand payment choice on the website," stated Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the nation's 2nd greatest sports betting company, now had 2 million routine clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment option since it was added in late 2017.

Paystack was set up by 2 Nigerian computer technology graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early phase funding in Silicon Valley's .

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 regular monthly 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 actually emerged around Paystack, creating software application to incorporate the platform into websites. "We have actually seen a growth because neighborhood and they have actually brought us along," said Quartey.

Paystack stated it enables payments for a number of wagering companies but likewise a large range of organizations, from energy services to transport companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.
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Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also backed by the Y-Combinator program in addition to investor Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million in 2015.
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FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have accompanied the arrival of foreign investors hoping to tap into sports betting.

Industry professionals say the sector produces 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 established in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the pattern, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm introduced in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were split in between shops and online however the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for customers to prevent the stigma of gambling in public suggested online deals would grow.

But regardless 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 lots of clients still stay hesitant to invest online.

He said the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian sports betting stores frequently serve as social hubs where clients can watch soccer totally free of charge while positioning bets.
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At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans gathered to watch Nigeria's last heat up game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who earns 25,000 naira a month, was fixated on a television screen inside. He stated he began sports betting three months back and bets approximately 1,000 naira a day.

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