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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting is flourishing in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown innovation companies that are starting to make online businesses more viable.

For many years, mobile payments stopped working to take off in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where money transfers have cultivated a culture of cashless payments.

Fear of electronic scams and sluggish internet speeds have held Nigerian online customers back but sports betting firms states the new, fast digital payment systems underpinning their websites are changing mindsets towards online deals.

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

"The operators will go with whoever is quicker, whoever can link to their platform with less issues 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 been matched by an increase in web payments, according to data 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 first quarter of 2018 there were almost 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of nearly 190 million, rising smart phone use and falling data expenses, Nigeria has actually long been seen as a great opportunity for online organizations - once consumers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gaming firms say that is happening, though reaching the 10s of millions of Nigerians without access to banking services remains an obstacle for pure online retailers.

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

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

"The growth in the number of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually helped the organization to flourish. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start running in Nigeria," he said.

FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer frenzy whipped up by Nigeria's involvement worldwide Cup say they are discovering the payment systems developed by regional startups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

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

"We added Paystack as one of our payment options without any excitement, without revealing to our consumers, and within a month it soared to the number one most secondhand payment choice on the site," stated Akin Alabi, creator of NairabBET.

He stated NairaBET, the country's second biggest sports betting firm, now had 2 million regular clients on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack remained the most popular payment option because it was included in late 2017.

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

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, said 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 every single month," stated Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of growth.

He stated an environment of designers had emerged around Paystack, developing software to integrate the platform into sites. "We have actually seen a growth because community and they have actually brought us along," stated Quartey.

Paystack said it makes it possible for payments for a variety of sports betting companies however likewise a wide variety of organizations, from utility services to transport business to insurance company Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian business owner 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

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

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up in Nigeria in the last 2 years while Italy's Goldbet led the pattern, taking a half stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian company released in 2015.

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

But in spite of advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was very important to have a shop network, not least due to the fact that many clients still remain unwilling to invest online.

He stated the business, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting wagering market, had a substantial network. Nigerian sports betting stores typically serve as social centers where customers can view soccer free of charge while placing bets.

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

Richard Onuka, a factory worker who earns 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a TV screen inside. He stated he started sports betting three months back and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

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