Amelco signs Nigeria sportsbook deal
London-based supplier enters growing African market through deal with local land-based lottery operator Premier Lotto
Sportsbook supplier Amelco has made a move on the developing Nigerian online gaming market through a deal with local land-based lottery operator Premier Lotto for a new sportsbook and lottery product.
Premierbet, which was launched on desktop and mobile earlier this month, leverages the Amelco technology and trading team and claims to offer more pre-match and in-running football markets than any of its rivals.
As well as sports betting, the new site also offers customers the ability to play lottery online, with Premier Lotto having run Nigeria’s popular daily Baba Ijebu lotto offline for more than two decades.
And in a move to boost online play, Premierbet has struck a deal with major Nigerian telecommunications firm MTN, enabling its circa 60 million customers to pay for lotto lines using their airtime mobile phone credit.
With a population of around 170 million, Nigeria has long been touted as the next big online gaming market, particularly for sportsbooks with sports betting a popular pastime in the land-based environment.
And according to local gaming lawyer Yahaya Maikori, senior partner at Law Allianz, this new Amelco-powered sportsbook product could finally provide the impetus to propel the online market forward.
“This development is significant because it will jump-start the online betting segment,” Maikori said.
The Premier Lotto deal is London-based Amelco’s third major signing in the past 12 months with the firm having signed agreements with PokerStars for its recently launched sportsbook and is currently in the process of overhauling German operator mybet’s sports betting product.