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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure
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LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is booming in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown innovation companies that are beginning to make online services more practical.
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For years, mobile payments stopped working to remove in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have actually cultivated a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic scams and speeds have actually held Nigerian online consumers back however sports betting companies states the new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their sites are altering mindsets towards online transactions.

"We have seen substantial growth in the number of payment services that are available. All that is certainly altering the gaming space," said Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's commercial capital.

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

That development has 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 certified 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 nearly 190 million, rising cellphone usage and falling data costs, Nigeria has long been viewed as a terrific chance for online organizations - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online sports betting firms say that is occurring, though reaching the 10s of countless Nigerians without access to banking services remains an obstacle for pure online sellers.

British online sports betting company Betway opened its first African organization 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 growth in the number of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually assisted business to prosper. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to start operating in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies capitalizing the soccer craze worked up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup say they are discovering the payment systems developed by regional startups such as Paystack are showing popular online.

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

"We included Paystack as one of our payment options without any fanfare, without revealing to our consumers, and within a month it shot up to the primary most pre-owned payment choice on the website," said Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He said NairaBET, the country's second most significant wagering company, now had 2 million regular clients on its website, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack stayed the most popular payment alternative because it was included late 2017.

Paystack was set up by two Nigerian computer system science graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received 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 month-to-month 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 month," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He said an ecosystem of developers had emerged around Paystack, developing software application to integrate the platform into sites. "We have seen a development in that community and they have carried us along," said Quartey.

Paystack stated it makes it possible for payments for a variety of wagering companies but also a wide variety of organizations, from energy services to transport business to insurer Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is also 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

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have accompanied the arrival of foreign financiers wishing to take advantage of sports betting wagering.

Industry experts state 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 established.

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 released in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi stated its sales were split between stores and online however the ease of electronic payments, cost of running shops and capability for consumers to avoid the preconception of sports betting in public implied online transactions would grow.

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - stated it was very important to have a shop network, not least due to the fact that lots of clients still stay hesitant to spend online.

He stated the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had an extensive network. Nigerian sports betting shops frequently serve as social centers where consumers can view soccer complimentary of charge while positioning bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic 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 television screen inside. He stated he began sports betting three months ago 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," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos