The online gaming industry is fast becoming a treasure mine in Africa’s Largest Economy, Nigeria, it is interesting to see people earning from a hobby. This cannot be unconnected with the large and youthful population, ever-evolving internet penetration, and accessibility to internet-enabled services. The sporting segment (most especially football) of this trade is a lucrative segment that can only be attributed to the huge fan base and sports culture in the country.
Source: Webhaptic (2020)
Thanks to the lockdown and the provision made by the internet-based services, increasing accessibility and connectivity to the internet, participation keeps increasing. In the last 3 years, the gaming industry has added an additional 42% to its ever-growing gamers.
The gaming industry seems not to be walking alone as it keeps getting partnerships in delivering a better experience to its users. Telecommunications companies apart from foreign investors are jumping on the train as well. Premier Bet Lotto popularly called Baba Ijebu partnered MTN, giving access to gamers to access betting options using shortcodes. Payments platforms are not left out of this bromance.
With this initiative of earning from a hobby, the country keeps gaining foreign investors especially in sports betting; a company like 1xBet is owned by a foreign investor alongside several digital companies splurging into the industry when these foreign companies are not owning Betting stores, they are partnering with existing local gaming companies to provide technological services.
Contrary to popular belief, the customer base of the gaming industry is fast-moving beyond the low-income earners to young middle-class Nigerians. This is a plus to the gaming industry as it keeps raving in all the social classes. Research shows a growing number of other classes in the social strata
Source: Webhaptic (2020)
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported in 2018 that roughly 60 million Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 40 are involved in active sports betting. Almost N2 billion is spent on sports betting daily in Nigeria, which translates to nearly N730 billion in a year.
As earlier mentioned, the Gaming industry feast on internet penetration as online ventures are also very operative, hence betting has moved from offline to online making room for more and more influx of participants.
In a 2015 publication on Football betting in Nigeria, it was recorded that most bets are placed in bet shops while an increasing number of customers are placing bets online, 2020 is 5years after the publication and we can totally agree with this assertion as 74% mentioned that they preferred betting online compared to betting offline, although 63% of gamers still bet offline.
Source: Webhaptic (2020)
Business Monitor International (BMI) research predicts that 182 million mobile subscribers in 2021, from the current 153 million. The expectation is that as the number of internet subscribers increases, so will the number of gaming users, so it is expected that as the number of internet subscribers increases, so will the number of gaming users.
Amidst all these awesome packages and experiences in the gaming industry, it is not without challenges. Issues with regulation, tax, cybersecurity, excessive and obsessive gambling leading to poverty, loss of assets, and liquidation. Despite the challenges, the gaming business is still a viable business, with several improvements considering the possible challenges, control measures can be put in place to reduce or totally eradicate the posing threat.
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