Sports Betting in Nigeria a Fast Growing Industry

Given the amount of passionate football fans in Nigeria, it’s no surprise sports betting in Nigeria is popular. What’s truly amazing is the amount of money and jobs it’s generated.

In Nigeria gambling news, business is booming for sports gambling in the poverty-stricken country as it becomes more and more popular and commonplace. Take a look into any ‘viewing centre’—a shanty wooden structure with a TV and satellite dish wherein fans can pay a dollar or so to watch European football league games—and you’ll see many people holding white tickets with the game and their bet printed on it.

Since the industry was established in 2007, sports betting in Nigeria has steadily grown. It really took off in 2012, and since then, Nigerian football fans see sports gambling not only as a pleasant accompaniment to their sports viewing, but as a valid source of income and employment.

The numbers for sports betting in Nigeria don’t lie

For many citizens, sports betting in Nigeria is a major source of revenue. Its attraction is undeniable, as every other weekend companies announce big wins from little bets as small as 100 naira (50 cents). It’s the prospect of making millions from what little they have that motivates punters to make their bets day in and day out—and betting companies are raking it in a as a result.

“Currently, we believe daily bets have reached five billion naira ($25 million) cumulatively across all the betting companies. Punters in the country are currently seeing this as a source of daily bread and it is not uncommon to see people appropriating a certain amount for betting daily,” says Ademola Adebajo, CEO of leading Nigerian sports betting company Stakersden.


Even the poor and the unemployed bet on sports in Nigeria. Adebajo says his company receives bets from all demographics, with low income earners estimated to spend between 200 naira ($1) and 1000 naira ($5), and high income earners estimated to spend thousands more.

Firms move in on sports betting in Nigeria

Unsurprisingly, gambling firms have moved in to capitalize on the thriving sports betting in Nigeria market. They tend to have a central working office which is at the core of a massive network of affiliate agents where punters go to place their bets. Having a large amount of pre-existing funds is vital to starting and running a firm, as a betting license has steep annual cost of 10 million naira ($50,000), and they must have lots of money to pay out winnings, which have been known to cumulatively run as high as hundreds of millions in one weekend alone.

Sports betting in Nigeria is so popular that the business market has become increasingly aggressive and cutting edge. Says Adebajo: “We started with a few local companies but right now, the business is moving from a low budget enterprise to one where scale is of essence. Companies like Bet9ja have come into the market to redefine how sports betting should be done and every operator is reacting to the developments.



“The business landscape has moved from trying to open a corner shop somewhere and offer betting services to people. The big companies are constantly innovating and upping the ante in the industry. New entrants will need significant startup capital to measure up.”

New developments in the market include the introduction of online gambling sites in Nigeria, a reaction to the increase of internet users in the country, which has recently reached 97 million. As such, online operations are becoming necessary to have an advantage over strictly land-based Nigerian sports betting firms. They will also be necessary for competing with foreign operators, who Adebajo says have been “licensed to operate here,” and expects to take “a chunk of the shareholding of some of these [domestic] companies to compete.”

Sports betting in Nigeria industry has created thousands of jobs

The evolution of sports betting in Nigeria has also proved to be a surprising solution to the high rates of unemployment in the country. For years, the creation of private sector jobs has been a critical need for Nigerian society, and sports gambling has created thousands thanks to big companies running operations across the nation. Staff for the companies tend to number in the hundreds, while hundreds more jobs are created through affiliate partnerships, in which people receive income through their commissions.

Graduate and shop owner Joseph Chukwu credits sports betting with giving him a viable livelihood. Said Chukwu: “There are no jobs in the country even for qualified graduates. Rather than sit on my thumbs, I decided to set up my shop as an agent and earn money through commissions. Initially I thought of it as something to do while something bigger came along but now I’m focusing on building a chain of shops and being a mogul of sorts. It may sound crazy but I’ve gone from looking for a job to actually building a business.”

Adebajo concurs, saying that working in sports betting in Nigeria is rare in that it’s both legal and profitable, and permits people—who for the most part live below the poverty time—to engage in gainful employment that allows them to make money off of their love sports.