The sports betting industry has taken the Nigerian business space like a storm. Only about five years ago, the idea of placing bets on sporting events online was almost alien and was seen as illegal to most Nigerians even though it was already becoming a global trend.

Today, not only are there thriving licensed online sport betting platforms owned and operated by Nigerians, some of them are currently expanding their operations to cater for the offline market.

The industry has impacted the society in a great way, with millions of Naira paid every week to winners and agents - and also to the government as tax - not to mention the employment it has provided for thousands of people.

This is definitely a business to watch in the New Year, 2014, as the industry is still in its infancy coupled with the passion Nigerians have for sports, especially football. SuccessDigest recently spoke with some of the leading players in the industry and they revealed a whole lot of opportunities that exist in the industry for growth, expansion, and creation of new businesses.


Happy reading!

How Did The Concept Of Sport Betting Come To You?


Otunba Akin Alabi, CEO OverThe Top Entertainment and NairaBET, says, “For long time readers of SuccessDigest, they would know that I have been a serial entrepreneur doing several things and looking for different opportunities that I can turn into business. And I have and am still doing a lot.

“I was in UK at a particular time and a friend of mine came over and said we should take a stroll to a sport betting outfit and we were there even though as at then I didn’t know anything about sport betting. He asked for my opinion about the matches that were going to be played and who I thought was going to win and I gave him my opinion.

“And at the end of the day, with the little money he put in, he made lots of money and he told me that it was my predictions that made him that money. And I was amazed and became very curious. And I asked him to explain to me how it works, which he did.

“And I realized that it was not as easy as it was because my predictions might be right or wrong but I was able to look at the business angle that lies in it which is owing a sport betting business in Nigeria because there was none existing before. What we had were the pools and they were going out of fashion. And we are five years now”.

Is Sports Betting A Legal Business In Nigeria?


Dotun Ajegbile, CEO 1960Bet says, “Of course, sports promotions and betting is a legal business globally, not only in Nigeria. It is even a properly regulated industry with almost all state governments of the federation having one form of parastatal, agency or board charged with oversight functions on all betting activities within their territories”.

Mr. Lekan Saka is the Managing Director/Chief Promoter of Betcolony Nigeria, Ghana and South-Africa. He says, “I will start with this: we have been into the business in the last 15 months or thereabout and the results have shown that it is a business that its time has come - an idea that has come to stay in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Actually, when the concept was introduced in Nigeria, I wouldn't say it was legal then, because the government was not really aware of the potential of the industry. But when the business started getting popular all around, government became interested and got involved. So, that culminated to the fact that the regulation of the sports betting/lottery industry in Nigeria is vested upon the state and not the federal level of government.

“So, what it means is that all bookmakers - those involved in sport betting generally, have to be registered with each state they operate from. So, where in Lagos State, we pay N5 million annual license fee and they take 2.5 percent of gross income on a monthly basis, in Rivers State, the annual license fee is N2 million and there is also a fixed weekly payment that has been calculated and paid up-front. So, all these point to the fact that the business is ok, legal and profitable - any entrepreneur can get into this business and make success out of it”.

Difference Between Sports Betting And Lottery

Saka says, “In the developed world, let's take for instance, Europe, they talk of sport or football trading, not betting anymore. This is because they believe you are utilizing your skill or knowledge of sports to make money. On the other hand, when people say gambling, it simply means risk taking.

“Now, let's take for instance, Barca, a super team is playing with Ajax, low ranked team, an average player will always place money on Barca to win. But who could have predicted that Ajax will draw in Barca's home? Imagine the points people placed that day - the stronger team has lower points. This is because the bookmaker believes that if you have the confidence to take higher risk, the higher the risk you can take, the more the money you will make!

“Many players will always place money on the stronger team, but it commands weaker points. Also, if you can make a double prediction - Ajax to win or draw, it will command high money because nobody would want to predict that Ajax could win that game; but Ajax actually drew with Barca.

“Take note: everybody predicted that Barca would win, so their points were too small - I don't think anybody even played double chance in favour of Ajax - that is where the profit is for the bookmaker. This was owing to the fact that people didn't take risk for that game.

“The average person who is placing money on Barca is afraid to take the risk of placing money on Ajax to win. For instance, there is something called Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) in oil business - if you can take the risk of taking fuel from Apapa to Maiduguri, you command high PEF - what the Federal Government compensates the oil business people with when they take oil to far places where there is no oil and it commands high money. So, Ajax is a weaker team that nobody would want to bet on, but there is more money for those who can take that risk.

“However, lottery (Baba Ijebu) is just about placing money on some numbers, so how are the winners and losers calculated? Nobody knows, but here everybody is watching. Today, "Baba Ijebu" has set up Premier League Lotto, because people want to play what they can see. So, the difference between betting and lottery is the combination of skill, money and risk taking.

“People also research on what is called Live Scores by measuring the weakness and strength of each team before they play. It is an in-depth thing which takes time and mental calculation”.

How Do You Generate Money As The Owner Of A Betting Platform?

Mr. Oluwaseun Ogundele is the Chief Executive Officer of Fastplus Innovation – another betting platform. The platform also has a subsidiary – www.Nairawin.com, a sport betting website. He says, “Sport betting bookie is one of the most profitable businesses in the world and is also very risky if not well managed.

“Before it was only foreign bookmakers that Nigerians used to bet with but now we have a lot of Nigerian sport betting websites. Generating money from a sport betting platform is the same around the globe. The money is generated from the losses made by the bettors, i.e., If Mr. A bets on a match and he looses, then the stake (the money used in betting) belongs to the betting company; but if Mr. A should win then the company will have to pay Mr. A.

“For you to be successful in the betting business you need a proper risk management system, It's a long term business that if properly managed can generate millions of Naira on monthly basis and that is why all these foreign sport bookmakers sponsor clubs; because they make millions of dollars every month”.

Mr. Ayo Ojuroye, Founder/CEO, KC Gaming Networks, says, “As an operator to get into the business you will have to demonstrate some form of financial capability because you are dealing with people, products and money, so you have to be very careful, you need to show that your business is well capitalized, to occupy a massive structure like ours (points to operations offices) there’s no gainsaying that it would have cost a fortune. So, you need a certain level of investments and depending on your market audience.

“You really need to have some seed capital, now how is the money made? The simple way is, people come in making bets on a particular sporting event around the globe, and you make profit from the net proceeds from the outcome of the event. Mathematically, if 100 people are making a bet all the individuals will not bet in one direction.

“Now, lets say we have a match between Manchester United and Chelsea, there are people who will bet that Man U will win and there are some who will bet that it’s Chelsea that will win, so as an operator you make profit from the net of the two of them, if you have more people bet for Man U and less people bet for Chelsea and if it happens that Chelsea wins the net difference is where you make your money from.
‘It is mathematically calculated based on some statistical data to arrive at the profit margin and the projected profit spread is anything from 5-30% of the net profit in Nigeria. So if you expose 100 people to a bet and it sums up to N1 million, you should expect from 5-30, 40% of that money. Because not everybody will place their bet in one direction, this is how money is made”.

Mr. Olasupo Badmos, MD/CEO, Chess Plus International Ltd, owners of Surebet247.com says, “Well the best way to explain this is to let you know that no matter the number of people that bet on a particular game, there is this notion that the house will always win, so the possibility of you as an operator running at loss is only when you don’t know the ins and outs of the business. There is a back office where the system Is regulated to ensure that there is an even result.

“For instance, in the game of soccer there are at least 3 ways you could bet, and everybody cannot bet the same way; some will support team A to win, some team B and some would predict draw, and all of them have their money at stake. However, it is only one out of these three that will actually emerge as the winner. So at the end of the day, the money coming from the other two people is what you use to pay the winner and your platform.

“The way the system works gives the operator a very slim chance of losing”.

How Much Does It Take To Start A Sport Betting Business?

Ogundele says, “To Start a sport betting website, you have to consider your location first. This will determine the requirement for getting license. Aside from that there are a lot of other things you need to buy or pay for, such as the sport betting software itself, of which you can get a good one for between N1.5 million to N3 million depending on the features you want.
Because Nigerians like live betting and other forms of sport betting too, you need to get a very rich and powerful software. You also need a good hosting platform (dedicated server or VPS). You also need to get an office, equipment and staff and a good internet connection. So, with N5 million to N10 million you should be able to start your own sport betting business because you need to set money aside to pay for your punter's win”.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


START A PROFITABLE SPORTS BETTING SHOP IN MINUTES WITH NO MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION

Hey Guys!

We would like to introduce you to Sportsbetscript.com

We have developed a browser-based software to start your own local betting shops in couple of minutes.

It has all the features you need to accept bets, create betting slips and see shop statistics.

Sportsbetscript makes it easy to offer sportsbook in sportsbars, internet cafes and pubs!

No Franchise.

No Monthly Fee.

Our company has started back in 2013 as a small software development shop under the registered name of Visalat, designing websites and building web applications.

During the first 2-3 years we have gathered some nice names in our portfolio and also started looking at online gaming and betting as a potential side business.

Within another 2 years we have designed and developed betting system support software for arbitration betting and matched betting.

This was the main source of experience and indepth knowledge acquisition.

Soon, the need for a fully fledged sports betting platform became obvious, as major providers were offering such systems at 7 to 8 digit prices.

We have started small, building betting websites using PHP and MySQL, and eventually we have started redesigning our current system from scratch.

After spending another 1 years improving and optimizing the software, we can now offer complete white label sports betting solutions with no monthly payment,no franchise,you make your profit 100%, along with a complete range of maintenance and support services.

And now, we are looking forward to work with you! SPORTS BETTING ODDS Basketball, Football, Baseball, Horse Racing and more - popular sports with top odds for pre-match and live bets.

BETTING SHOP/RISK MANAGEMENT See all wagers, transactions and your shops performance at a glance.

Carry out all administrative tasks on one website.


Why using Sportsbetscript?

- Free Setup - NO licence or franchise fees
- Keep 100% of the profits

All you need to get started is a computer with internet connection and a termal printer (to print betting slips) Pricing Starting a betting shop has never been cheaper.

100% Full Source Code | No Monthly Fee | No Franchise | Free Setup.

Download link to Full module is given after payment is confirmed.

Demo: http://sportsbetarena.com

If that sounds interesting to you, just contact us via www.sportsbetscript.com and we talk about your business plans.



Thank you,
The Sportsbetscript.com Team