Betting Battles: Hisbah Police Crackdown Intensify as Innovation Company Confronts Nigeria’s Gaming Giants
Meet CEOs/MDs of companies behind Nigeria’s $2 billion Sports betting market.
sports betting has evolved significantly in Nigeria from standard forms like pool staking and Baba Ijebu to a thriving sports betting wagering market. Historically tied to European football leagues, swimming pool staking was a common sight at motor parks and kiosks, sports betting where enthusiasts would wager as low as N50-N200 on matches.
Slowly, sports betting with increased web access came virtual sports betting, which parallels international patterns. The sports betting wagering market is valued at $89.91 billion in 2023 and is predicted to nearly double to $182.02 billion by 2030.
Despite economic challenges such as inflation, Nigeria’s sports betting wagering sector has prospered, bring in millions, sports betting particularly amongst the youthful group facing high unemployment rates.
Reports indicate that approximately 60 million Nigerians aged 18-40 actively participate in sports betting wagering, driving a market that generates a projected annual income of N730 billion. The federal government has not gone undetected by this development, which is thinking about regulatory steps like excise responsibilities and VAT increases to manage the sector.
The National Lottery Act of 2005 established regulatory bodies like the National Lottery Regulatory Commission to guarantee reasonable operations in spite of difficulties in enforcement. Problems such as inadequate age confirmation and marketing rule breaches show market regulative spaces.
In spite of these challenges, sports betting wagering companies continue to prosper through efficient company models and aggressive marketing strategies, leveraging the creator influencer market.
These efforts have actually contributed to Nigeria’s robust $2 billion sports betting sector, with CEOs playing important roles in expanding audience reach and sports betting driving industry growth. Here are the CEOs of leading sports betting companies who have actually significantly contributed to Nigeria’s $2 billion gaming empire through their comprehensive audience reach.
Constable Olaniyan – CEO Surebet247
Sheriff Olaniyan is the CEO of Surebet247, a sports betting book business he co-founded with Badmos Olasupo in 2011. His varied profession covers numerous functions in the video gaming and entertainment industry, including working at among the United Kingdom’s largest gaming centres, The Palace Bingo Club, where he functioned as the Lead Engineer in a Bingo and Bowling Club.
Olaniyan holds a BSc in Geography from the University of Ilorin and a Master’s in Geographical Information Systems from the University of Glamorgan, Wales. Surebet247, founded in August 2011, sports betting has grown into a leading e-commerce service in the sports betting and sports betting video gaming sector, operating through online, mobile, and retail channels. The company was included in Nigeria on November 7, 2006, and has considering that broadened its presence, accomplishing over 5,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.
Sam Sadi – CEO Livescorebet
Sam Sadi has more than 25 years of experience in wagering brands and sports betting media. In 2019, he ended up being the CEO of LiveScore Group, sports betting a totally incorporated environment that combines pertinent sports betting content, engaging functions, and a world-class sportsbook.
Since taking the helm just before the pandemic, Sam has driven substantial development for LiveScore Group. The company’s worker headcount has actually increased by 29%, and yearly profits has risen from roughly ₤ 10 million to over ₤ 80 million.
Sam’s leadership and tactical vision have actually moved LiveScore Group’s success and assisted form the market’s direction. LiveScoreBet has attained significant user engagement, sports betting with over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.
Anthony Werkman – CEO of Betway Group
Anthony Werkman was appointed CEO of Betway in November 2017, having actually formerly acted as the business’s Marketing and Operations Director since 2015. He signed up with Betway in 2013 and has remained in the online video gaming industry considering that 2000, holding numerous effective roles, including General Manager of an information analytics team and Director sports betting of a digital marketing agency.
Under Werkman’s leadership, Betway has actually continued to grow its market presence and boost its offerings. The company’s app has actually gathered significant user engagement, with over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.
Damilare Alabi, Co-Founder, Managing Director NairaBET
Damilare Alabi has differentiated herself as a senior sports betting executive with a performance history of transforming start-ups into institutionalized businesses. Her competence spans the video gaming, real estate, and credit loaning markets, where he has developed himself as a strategic and functional leader.
Damilare has been instrumental in NairaBET’s success for over 14 years. Considering that June 2019, she has acted as Managing Director and has supervised the company’s growth and sports betting operations in Lagos, Nigeria.
Before this, she was the Chief Operating Officer from 2010 to June 2019, essential in the business’s functional strategies and market expansion.
She established DearDammy Women’s Initiative (DDWIN), a non-profit organization empowering women-owned companies. DDWIN offers frHer academic background consists of a Bachelor’s degree in Geology/Earth Science from the University of Ibadan, completed in 2005.
Akin Alabi, the founder of NairaBET.com, Nigeria’s pioneering sports betting bookmaking company, developed the business in 2009. While NairaBET was not the very first sports betting wagering platform in Nigeria, it was the very first to launch a fully practical website, setting a criteria in the industry.
Femi Babalola- General Manager of 1Xbet Nigeria Limited
Femi Babalola is the Managing Director sports betting of 1XBET Nigeria Limited, a franchise of the global sports betting business based in Cyprus. 1XBET, founded in 2007 by the late Sergey Karshkov, has developed itself as one of the largest bookies in Europe and the world. The company runs in more than 50 countries, including Nigeria, where it is totally licensed.
Under Babalola’s leadership, 1XBET Nigeria has expanded its footprint in the competitive Nigerian sports betting wagering market, sports betting using a wide variety of sports betting alternatives and an easy to use platform. The 1XBET app has over 500,000 downloads on the Play Store.
Gossy Ukanwoke – CEO of Betking Nigeria
Gossy Ukanwoke is the CEO of BetKing, Managing Director of KingMakers, and Chairman of Vend Capital. In addition to leading these ventures, Ukanwoke has actually teamed up with African socio-economic organizations and governments to design developmental policies aimed at empowering young people. In 2015, Ernst & & Young honoured him as the Winner of the Accelerating Category– World Entrepreneur of the Year.
BetKing, founded and released in Nigeria on February 22, 2018, by Byron Petzer and Adekunle Adeniji, operates under the trademark name of Lake Ventures Ltd. This pan-African sports betting wagering and home entertainment business has actually rapidly grown its existence in Nigeria, with outlets in major cities and over 500,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.
In 2020, sports betting BetKing participated in a collaboration with the Lagos Employment Trust Fund, creating over 100,000 jobs, the variety of which is increasing each year. In the exact same year, MultiChoice broadcaster bought a 20% stake in BetKing, which was increased to 49% in 2021.
Denise Coates – CEO Bet 365
Denise Coates is a British billionaire businesswoman, the founder, majority investor, sports betting and joint Chief Executive of Bet365, an online sports betting business she established in 2000. Bet365.com was introduced in 2001 as an online wagering website and has given that turned into among the world’s largest online gambling business.
By 2016, Bet365 produced $2 billion in revenues and facilitated $45 billion in yearly bets. The company also holds a bulk stake in Stoke City Football Club. Bet365 has actually gathered substantial user engagement, with over 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
Ayo Ojuroye – CEO/Cofounder Bet9ja
Ayo Ojuroye is the CEO and co-founder of Bet9ja, a leading sports betting business in Nigeria, sports betting developed along with businessman Kunle Soname, who likewise owns Portuguese club CD Feirense and Nigerian club Remo Stars.
Ojuroye is also the Chairman of Mango Asset Management, an independent Nigerian property management company that produces financial investment returns and uses special financial investment insights and options to both specific and institutional clients.
Founded in 2012 under KC Gaming Networks, Bet9ja has quickly grown in popularity, with over 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Under Ojuroye’s management, sports betting Bet9ja has become a considerable gamer in the Nigerian sports betting market.
Fikayo Ogunfuye – Country Director 22bet
Fikayo Ogunfuye is a seasoned professional in the sports betting market. He has actually been functioning as the Country Director sports betting for 22BET in Nigeria considering that June 2021. In this role, he has actually contributed to the company’s growth through collaborations, company strategy, and brand-new business development.
Fikayo’s experience consists of roles such as Chief Operations Officer (West Africa) at 22BET, where he handled item advancement and customer experience, and Country Manager at 22BET, concentrating on marketing strategy and budget plan management. Before 22BET, he led marketing efforts at LuckyBet.NG and held different digital marketing functions at Laclic Services and sports betting Betty Bingo.
His profession began at Jumia Group, where he operated in SEO, CRM, and content management. Fikayo likewise served as a Human Resource Officer at SIFAX Group.
He holds a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) in Management and Accounting from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and a Master of Science (MS) in Business Administration, Management, and Operations from ESTG University in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
22Bet is an online gaming platform that offers sports betting, gambling establishment games, and live dealership games. It was launched in 2017 and is owned and run by Marikit Holdings Ltd, a business signed up in Cyprus and a subsidiary of Orakum N.V.. They are likewise the owners of Betwinner and a chain of gambling establishments worldwide.
Sudeep Ramnani– CEO Sportybet Group
Sudeep Ramnani is the Founder and CEO of SportyBet, a business he developed in 2013.
SportyBet is an international sports betting and real-money video gaming operator known for providing an omni-channel home entertainment experience in managed emerging markets. Under Ramnani’s management, SportyBet has actually become a considerable player in the industry, with over 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
In addition to his role at SportyBet, sports betting Sudeep is an active investor in fintech and sports betting mobile payments and a strong advocate for the growing African internet ecosystem. His financial investments show his commitment to cultivating development and advancement within the area.
On April 30, 2024, Sudeep Ramnani purchased Chowdeck, taking part in a seed round valued at $2.5 million.
The company is set to interfere with the sports betting industry.
Sunbet Sporting International Limited has stated it is focused on revolutionising how countless Africans engage with sports betting. In an industry worth over $1.5 billion yearly, with double-digit growth projection in the coming years, according to reports from the African Sports Betting Association and PwC, the company intends to utilize cutting-edge innovation and a commitment to accountable gaming to revolutionise the sector.
Backed by the financial power of 4 popular African billionaires, Sunbet, which will release in the very first quarter of 2025, sports betting intends to be the continent’s largest and most innovative sports betting platform.
At a press rundown, the business’s representative, sports betting Akin Babatunde, said that the rise in Internet penetration, mobile use, and sports betting the continent’s deep passion for sports betting, specifically football, has set the stage for Sunbet’s ambitious entry. He included that the firm’s robust financial backing and expert group will allow it to scale and control the marketplace quickly.
Islamic authorities raid wagering shops in northern Nigeria
Islamic police in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano have begun closing down sports betting wagering shops, which they say are operating illegally.
“As you know, wagering is prohibited in Islam,” Mujahid Aminudeen, deputy chief of the Sharia police, sports betting known as the Hisbah, told the BBC.
Grievances from neighborhood leaders and moms and dads prompted the crackdown, fretted about the growing variety of sports betting addicts, he stated.
On the very first day of raids, 30 stores were closed in one residential area alone, and their owners were sent home with a caution, sports betting the Sharia officer said.
However Mr Aminudeen warned that now that the general public was aware that the Hisbah was clamping down on gambling, sports betting those flouting the rules would be arrested.
Kano city is the capital of Kano state, which has a bulk Muslim population and runs the Islamic legal system – Sharia – along with nonreligious law.
Bookies and bars tend to be enabled to run in Kano’s Christian neighbourhoods, though they too can face action if the Hisbah thinks Muslims are frequenting them.
Nevertheless, the existing crackdown is focused on Muslim locations of Kano, a sprawling city and the financial center of northern Nigeria.
sports betting wagering stores can be discovered all over the city. The majority of have television screens, and consumers enjoy the outcome of global football matches or horse races on which they have staked money.
Mr Aminudeen stated such bookmakers had actually been able to run under the radar as they had actually opened under .
“They don’t have licences to operate as they were permitted to run video games centres, which they later on converted to sports betting shops,” he stated.
The sports betting market has actually expanded dramatically throughout West Africa in the last few years. The area is roughly divided in between a generally Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.
Lots of people go to bookmakers to take pleasure in the sociability of other bettors, sports betting though mobile apps are also popular for sports betting on the result of events and teams.
Nigeria’s crippling recession has likewise meant individuals are willing to run the risk of a small amount in the hope of winning big.
But this had caused extensive dependency, and moms and dads were even grumbling that kids were dropping out of school to gamble, Mr Aminudeen said.
“These financial concerns we are dealing with in Nigeria is God informing us to change our methods by stopping sins,” he said.
The raids on Tuesday concentrated on Munjibir, thought about a resort area in the northeast of the city– visitors flock there at weekends.
“I am advising those running those wagering shops to either closed down or we’ll detain them and take them to [a Sharia] court,” Mr Aminudeen stated.
It is uncertain what penalty they would deal with – typically, such violations bring a fine.
Sharia was presented in Kano in 2000 – as it remained in 11 other Muslim-majority northern states – and prostitution, gambling and the consumption of alcohol were prohibited.
