Online betting has come a long way over the last two decades. The number of users around the globe has consistently grown, and in many local scenes, it has become an important sector with a high turnover.

The volume of sports betting in Nigeria has seen an upward spike too, in terms of volume and money contributed to the sector on the continent. Only in South Africa is the betting scene in Africa bigger.

With more and more legal online gambling platforms offering variety, the number of users grows. People have easy access to features like a 22bet promo code Nigeria to pick up a bonus for beginning to play online, making it attractive to start and also helping to drive the growth of smartphone use.

Some Numbers From Nigeria

Figures from a betting study in Nigeria in 2022 reported that almost 52% of the population had been involved in sports betting activities over the previous 12 months. Considering that doesn’t account for any online casino or lottery play, that’s a substantial number of people getting online and gambling.

Of those sports bettors, almost 33% reported betting a few times a week, compared to 5% only betting once a month. So it’s not just the volume of people betting in Nigeria that is rising, it’s people that bet regularly, which is reflected in why people bet as well.

When asked for the motivation for sports betting, over 70% of people in the survey replied that one of the reasons was, simply, to try and win money. 49% of people also said that they would be far more interested in watching a particular sports event after betting on it.

In-Play

That last result is exciting. When people have a bet on a match, they have a bigger vested interest in it. They have skin in the game, and watching a fixture that has been bet on, instantly gives feedback on every wager.

It can also lead to extra betting activity for live in-play wagers, which is a big area where the usage of cell phones comes in. It is cumbersome to watch a sports match and then fumble around with a computer to try to make live bets.

But with mobile betting platforms providing such a good portal to the latest betting odds and features, it becomes a lot easier to perform. This is not a phenomenon that is exclusive to Nigeria, it has happened in most countries that have seen huge growth in mobile betting.

The convenience that it brings to people is unparalleled. Cellphones are part and parcel of modern life, and the ability to handle everything from signing up with a betting site, to making secure payments and withdrawals from an account, collecting bonuses, and exploring betting odds on events from around the globe has massive appeal.

Mobile Betting 

There are metrics to look back at in terms of just cellphone usage alone in Nigeria. It’s been reported that a third of people in the country have access to a mobile device. That is only going to keep growing. 

But it also means that as more cell phones get into people’s hands, more people are going to be exposed to online gambling. Mobile betting opens doors extremely wide for betting options, both pre-match and in-play.

It strips away all the need to get to a physical location for gambling. As coverage and cell phone services improve and competition makes it less expensive,  penetration of mobile betting into the mainstream is heading for a big rise.

In Conclusion

It’s not just cell phones, of course, that is boosting the sector. Everything comes together to paint a bigger picture, like the gambling framework within the country supporting more bookmakers with licenses.

The population of Nigeria continues to grow as well. Half of the global population growth through the year 2050 is expected to happen in Africa. Nigeria saw a rise of 2.5% from 2022 to 2023.

Almost 93% of people in Nigeria who dabbled in sports betting in 2022 did so via the internet/mobile apps. That’s the clearest indication of all that this is where the action is at when it comes to betting.

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