Over the last decade or so, the Nigerian betting industry has seen a rapid expansion. Everywhere you go across the country, you will come across sports betting shops and outlets in nearly every street, with even more coming up almost on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, roughly 60 million Nigerians, between the ages of 18-40 years, spend an average of N3000 daily on sports betting as per an investigation conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria.
With such numbers actively involved in sports betting, and well over 60 betting sites operating in the country, it is no surprise that sports betting is experiencing a massive uptake in the country which has given the economy of the country a major boost. These sports betting companies that are licensed to operate in Nigeria range from home-grown companies to big international companies. A few of the top companies include Bet9ja, Nairabet, Blackbet, Sportybet, 1xBet, Betway,Betwinner, Ladbrokes.com, Bet365, 888sport.com, Betfair, footballpoolsxtra.com, Surebet247, 1960bet, goldenbetsng.com etc.
Top auditing firm PWC did a report that placed Nigeria as the second largest online gambling market in Africa, behind South Africa, with GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue) of $58 million in 2018 with projected increase of 16% over a five-year period.
What Drove this Growth
Nigerians love sports. You can see it in their passion for the national football team, the Super Eagles, their very vibrant national leagues and their active participation in international sports events. This passion for sports is the primary driver that facilitated the entry of sports betting companies. The moment Nigerian sports lovers realized they could translate that passion into money, it was a done deal.
Football is without a doubt the number one sport in the country, even though other sports like basketball, tennis, rugby and cricket also have a following. It is also becoming more and more popular to bet on football transfers. They however pale in comparison to football. As it is, most betting companies also follow this pattern. This is an industry that is very much data driven and therefore if the numbers point in a certain direction as far as customer preferences and likes are concerned, so will their product offering. Betting companies have channeled their efforts towards offering betting on all the tip football league matches particularly the European Leagues that have a massive following not just in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, but all across the world. This includes the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A, the French Ligue 1 as well as a host of other leagues from around the world.
Betting Tips Africa is a platform that offers free betting tips on football matches from these top European Leagues as well as other competitions like the Champions League, Europa League and regional tournaments like the Euro Nations League and African Cup of Nations. They have a team of seasoned experts that do thorough research on these games and present them on their website in a way that is easy for readers to understand. Follow the link to find out more about Betting-Tips.Africa
The quickfire growth of the industry has also been facilitated by the growth of the ICT sector in the country over the last few years with more Nigerians now having access to mobile phones and affordable internet. Statistics indicate that there are well over 100 million phone and internet users in Nigeria. This has seen the expansion of the industry from the traditional brick-and-mortar betting shops, which are still active, into the area of digital space which translates to an increase of new users. More users mean more revenue for the industry.
The other reason for the growth, unfortunately, is the high unemployment rate in the country. This is literally the case in many of the fast-emerging markets where young people who cannot get formal employment resort to trying their hand in the sports betting as a form of employment since they can get returns from betting on sports such as football which majority of them follow.
It is expected that this growth will continue on its an upward spiral in the coming years as more and more people jump onto the bandwagon of sports betting thanks to the rapid expansion betting companies and the massive marketing campaigns that they are engaged in.
