Why Is Nigeria Not Attracting the Biggest iGaming Companies?

Nigeria’s online betting industry is making giant strides with loads of betting companies operating in Nigeria.

As it stands, there are quite a number of l betting companies currently operating in the country, with many more waiting on the sidelines to get a piece of the action.

Since Nigeria opened up to igaming, the sector has been booming with a lot of gains and of course, there have been plenty of negatives recorded as well.

However, the positives recorded so far outweigh the disadvantages. Many will point out that the industry has brought about increased revenue for the government at both state and Federal levels through licensing and taxation.

Additionally, in a country with a scary unemployment record, the job opportunities provided by betting companies have been enormous.

Despite all of the gains recorded in the industry, it seems as though the country is barely scratching the surface when compared to markets in Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.

While there are loads of betting companies currently operating in Nigeria, the top international brands still do not have a massive presence in the country.

Granted, there are few Betting companies from Eastern Europe in the online betting industry of Nigeria, but the absence of the bigger brands is glaring!

Kenya, South Africa and Ghana are leading the way with the number of international bookmakers available to online betting enthusiasts in their respective countries.

Recently, Bet365 officially launched its operations in Ghana complete with local payment methods for its Ghanaian customers. 888bet, another international brand, is now active in Kenya with the hugely popular mobile money service, Mpesa available to players.

Further down in Southern Africa, Bwin is present in Zambia.

These are feats the igaming industry in Nigeria can not boast of. Despite the readily available market, popularity of online betting and her status as a mature market on the continent.

In fact, the Nigerian market is one of the most liberal markets with no restrictions on new customer betting bonus offers, which is a big marketing tool for the big betting brands.

However, the country is still lagging behind in the area of financial inclusion, notably mobile money which is hugely popular in these countries.

For instance, Ghana and Kenya have loads of mobile money operators which are readily accessible to residents of the two countries.

Mobile money makes for easy transactions without leaving the comfort of homes or offices. Nigeria is gradually moving towards a cashless economy, but the biggest driver of a cashless society as seen in other countries is mobile money. Unfortunately, we are yet to embrace mobile money.

However, Nigeria is way behind in implementing the mobile money service due to lack of political will and political roadblocks.

Another reason put forward is the purported lax regulations which leaves the Nigerian market with a lot of shortcomings.

For instance, there is an overlap between the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) which is the federal agency responsible for regulating online betting activities in the country and state regulatory agencies.

The discord at the two levels of regulation is a major factor that discourages international brands to pitch their products to Nigerian players.

There are myriads of other issues. However, a lasting solution to regulatory lapses will go a long way in attracting the biggest international brands to Nigeria.

– This is a sponsored article.