Fintech penetration Key driver to iGaming Sector Boom in Nigeria

The Nigerian fintech industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, seeing the numbers of fintech companies increased.

This sector has been the key driver to the development of online business in Nigeria and as contributed significantly to the penetration and acceptance of iGaming betting and gambling in Nigeria, which brought along with it is secured and seamless payment method that has helped propel the Nigerian gaming ecosystem as the hotspot for foreign investors in Africa.

Whereas looking at the numbers of international brands entering the Nigerian market with the notion of targeting the Nigeria iGaming betting and gambling market which as been evident thanks to mobile-first strategy the norm for betting enthusiastically. However, the Nigerian fintech industry as significantly experienced growth that has seen star-up companies such as Paystack, also Flutterwave, Quickteller, among others offering several betting companies payment integration services to meets the demand of online customer-centric players through there payment offerings while given them that seamlessness, flexibility, and comfort to deposit and receive payment anytime anywhere has been the key driver to the Nigeria iGaming industry.

Fintech technology’s success has been evident. The sector has been experiencing exponential growth, which, as seen, the fintech ecosystem revenue in Nigeria accounts for $153 million in 2017 only. The industry projected to reach $543 million by 2022, according to statistics from the State of Play Fintech Nigeria. This projection has been attributed to the Nigerian government’s reforms and tech-savvy youth population, coupled with advancements in technology such as increasing smartphone penetration. The focused on the regulatory drive to increase financial inclusion and cashless payments while the drive-by expanding payment service of several e-commerce platforms and betting companies are combining to create the perfect recipe for a thriving sector.

Nigeria is now home to over 200 fintech standalone companies, plus several fintech solutions offered by banks and mobile network operators as part of their product portfolio. Between 2014 and 2019, Nigeria bustling fintech scene raised more than $600 million in funding, attracting 25 percent ($122 million) of the $491.6 million raised by African tech startups in 2019 alone only to Kenya, which attracted $149 million. The fintech penetration has been essential that has seen several iGaming brands have been quick to adopt the digital payment service to their platforms to meet a betting enthusiast’s demands.

The rapid adoption of fintech has been the lackluster service offered by traditional banking. Even though the bank sector in Nigeria remains an attractive sector with over $9 billion in value pools, but despite high levels of competition, and the growing Nigerian population become an issue for the traditional banking sector to meet the demand of the people that see the vast majority of consumers are underserved, lacks access to services, especially in rural areas issues of affordability and poor user experience all contribute to the frustration of consumers experience right across the customer spectrum.

These created an opening that fintech has been quick to take advantage of, with many stepping up develop enhanced propositions across the value chain to address pain points in affordable payments, quick loans, and flexible savings and investments, among others, have been short to the critical driver to the igaming sector boom in the country. The related lockdown directing all business to close, by the Nigerian government and retail banking being run differently to compliance with social distancing measures required and with physical cash being a conduit for Covid-19 have seen online payments transactions volumes witnessed surges as consumers are confined to their homes during the lockdown and turning to digital platforms to complete the transaction this same surge was experienced in the Nigeria iGaming sector seeing the betting enthusiastic who have never gone online turning to digital bettors.

In contrast, the penetration of the fintech ecosystem has been an integral part of the iGaming boom. It has been touted to overtake the dominant retail form of betting in the next couple of years.

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