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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is booming in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown innovation companies that are beginning to make online companies more feasible.
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For several years, mobile payments failed to remove 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 web speeds have actually held Nigerian online consumers back however sports betting firms states the new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their websites are changing attitudes towards online deals.

"We have seen considerable development in the variety of payment options that are available. All that is absolutely changing the gaming area," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, video gaming regulator in Nigeria's commercial capital.

"The operators will go with whoever is much faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less problems and problems," he said, including that taxes from sports betting 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 reserve bank and certified banks.

In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth an overall 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 almost 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of almost 190 million, increasing smart phone use and falling data costs, Nigeria has long been viewed as an excellent chance for online companies - once customers feel comfy with electronic payments.

Online sports betting companies state that is happening, though reaching the tens of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services stays a challenge for pure online merchants.

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

"There is a steady shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria supervisor Lere Awokoya said.

"The growth in the variety of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually assisted business to prosper. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start operating in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's involvement on the planet Cup state they are finding the payment systems produced by regional startups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

Paystack and another regional startup Flutterwave, both founded in 2016, are offering competition for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the main platform used by organizations running in Nigeria.

"We added Paystack as one of our payment alternatives with no fanfare, without revealing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the number one most pre-owned payment option on the website," stated Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the country's 2nd biggest sports betting company, now had 2 million regular consumers on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment choice considering that it was included late 2017.

Paystack was established by two Nigerian computer technology 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 frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the variety of month-to-month transactions it processed increased from about 8,000 in early 2016 to more than 900,000 since June 2018.
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"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 development.

He said an ecosystem of designers had emerged around Paystack, developing software application to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have actually seen a development in that neighborhood and they have brought us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a number of wagering firms but also a large variety of businesses, from utility services to carry business to insurer Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program as well as investor Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million in 2015.

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

Industry professionals state the sector creates 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 both established in Nigeria in the last two years while Italy's Goldbet was ahead of the pattern, taking a 50 percent stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company introduced in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, cost of running shops and ability for consumers to avoid the stigma of sports betting in public implied online deals would grow.

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was essential to have a store network, not least because lots of clients still remain reluctant to invest online.

He stated the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a comprehensive network. Nigerian sports betting shops often function as social hubs where consumers can watch soccer free of charge while putting bets.

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

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He said he began gambling three months back and bets approximately 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have actually 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