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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is growing in soccer-mad Nigeria largely thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown technology firms that are starting to make online businesses more viable.

For many 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 fostered a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic fraud and sluggish web speeds have held Nigerian online customers back but sports betting companies says the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering attitudes towards online deals.

"We have seen considerable growth in the variety of payment options that are available. All that is definitely altering the video gaming space," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's industrial capital.

"The operators will go with whoever is faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less concerns and problems," he stated, adding that taxes from sports betting 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 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). Transactions jumped 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 nearly 190 million, rising mobile phone use and falling information costs, Nigeria has long been viewed as a fantastic opportunity for online services - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gambling companies say that is happening, though reaching the tens of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services remains a challenge for pure online merchants.

British online sports betting firm Betway opened its first African company 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 government as an enabler, has actually helped business to prosper. These technological shifts encouraged Betway to begin running in Nigeria," he stated.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting companies cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup say they are discovering the payment systems produced by local startups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

Paystack and another local startup Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are offering competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was established in 2002 and was the main platform utilized by businesses operating in Nigeria.

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

He said NairaBET, the country's second biggest wagering company, now had 2 million routine clients on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment choice given that it was included late 2017.

Paystack was established by 2 Nigerian computer science graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who received early stage funding in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator program.

In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from financiers including China's Tencent and Comcast Ventures in the United States.

Paystack, based in the frenetic Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the variety of regular monthly transactions 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 each and every single month," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He said an ecosystem of designers had actually emerged around Paystack, creating software to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have actually seen a growth because neighborhood and they have actually carried us along," said .

Paystack stated it allows payments for a number of sports betting companies however likewise a vast array of organizations, from utility services to carry companies to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur 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 last year.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have actually coincided with the arrival of foreign investors wanting to take advantage of sports betting.

Industry experts state the sector generates about $1 billion a year and is likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where business is more established.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually 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 firm launched 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 consumers to prevent the preconception of gaming in public suggested 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 lots of customers still remain hesitant to invest online.

He stated the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian wagering shops typically function as social hubs where consumers can enjoy soccer free of charge while placing bets.

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

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He said he started gambling three months ago and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

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