Growing popularity of sports and betting in Nigeria

Growing popularity of sports and betting in Nigeria

Photo by Richard Boyle on Unsplash

Nigeria has a long history of association with British sports, especially football. This dates all the way back to colonial times, and because of mass immigration into the UK in the decades since, there are many families that have joint British and Nigeria heritage. This means that the EPL is extremely popular, and the Premier League has many Nigerian players. Nearly everyone in Nigeria who likes football will have an English team they support, and this will often be because of Nigerian players they either have now or have had in the past.

As sports betting has grown in popularity and has a particular foothold in the EPL market, it has influenced gambling in Nigeria as well. In this article, we're going to look at the sports betting climate in Nigeria today, how it has developed, and what options there are for betting fans in the country. Not only that, we'll also look at a few tips if you want some top Nigerian bets for the EPL season that's just started.

Sports betting in Nigeria

Sports betting and online gambling in the country of Nigeria has really taken off the last few years, as it has in much of the rest of the planet. As the African country with the biggest population, it's a big market. And one that looks set to grow even more in the next few years as online gambling operations (like NetBet Nigeria) become more prevalent and more people get access to computers, smartphones and the internet.

There's actually a massive 25million USD gambled in Nigeria online per day. The growth in popularity of online gambling in Nigeria is even starker when you realise that the economy as a whole in the country has grown at a much slower rate. The gambling and sports betting industries are really bucking the trend.

Some experts say that sports betting is as popular in Nigeria as the sports themselves. There's an argument that there'd be far less interest in football and other sporting events if Nigerians weren't allowed to gamble on them. And that's the thing with sports betting in Nigeria-unlike some other nearby countries, the climate is very liberal and gambling is permitted in all 36 states of the country. Some estimates even say that 30% of the population place a sports bet every day.

The way in which these sports bets are placed is obviously moving at a rapid rate. Traditional bricks and mortar betting establishments are still popular, but they aren't growing like the online market is. As more people get access to smartphones and other internet technology, the ease and simplicity of placing bets online have started to revolutionize the industry, as it has in almost every other country on the planet.

As football is one of the, if not the most popular sports in the country, it stands to reason that most of this growth has occurred alongside or even thanks to the sport. European football, especially the English leagues are the most popular in Nigeria, and sports betting has sat closely alongside the EPL for a while now. There are fans of all sorts of British teams in Nigeria, and many of these fans enjoy placing bets every time there's a match on. Some of the bigger football matches attract some of the largest betting figures in the country.

One reason for such a booming sports betting industry in Nigeria is obviously because of how it is legislated there. Some other African and European countries are highly prohibitive of online gambling and sports betting. In certain countries, you have to place bets on unregulated sites or sign up for offers without any real protection. In Nigeria, everything is completely above board and plenty of big sites operate freely and legally. This makes it much easier to place a bet both online and in-person, and it's one of the reasons why the industry has flourished so much in Nigeria. While not everyone agrees with gambling being this prevalent, it has certainly been a success story in Nigeria's economy, and has lead to countless jobs as well as lots of options for Nigerian people to place bets without worrying about the legality of things.

Gambling in Nigeria has been popular for a number of years. A lot of this started with the football pools which are thanks to British influence in the country. This allowed players to pick the matches they thought would end in score draws for a share of a total overall prize fund. It has been popular in the UK for decades and could be seen as the beginning of football gambling on the whole.

Things have developed a fair amount since then. While football pools are still available, Nigerians prefer match betting and multiples. These allow people to bet on the outcome of either an individual match or a combination of them. Other popular types of bets include goal scorer and specifically first goal scorer markets. As you might expect, Nigerian players can be popular in these markets.

Nigerian sports betting EPL tips

One of the most popular teams in Nigeria, as elsewhere in the world, is Man Utd. While this team hasn't had the most Nigerian players in the league, it's still extremely popular. If you want to win big, you could try the unlikely market of Man Utd to win the league this season-although you'll probably be throwing your money away. A slightly more realistic bet might be them to finish top 4.

There aren't as many big-name Nigerians in the league right now as there have been in the past. Some of the most famous Nigerians have been Okocha, Kanu and Yakubu. Right now, there are still a few Nigerians around the league. However, there are many more English players with some Nigerian heritage. This is thanks to British influence in Nigeria and immigration over the last few decades. Much of the recently successful English national team has African and specifically Nigerian heritage.