Optima sportsbetting product gains traction in Africa

Spanish sports betting technology specialist supplier Optima has extended its wide reach in Europe with the successful integration of its Multichannel Gaming Suite platform at Nigerian online and retail bookmaker Nairabet.

In a media interview published last week Optima chief executive Jacob Lopez Curciel and Nairabet CEO Akin Alabi talked about the long-term contract between their companies and the nature of the partnership, revealing that Optima powers all Nairabet operations, mobile, retail and call centre.

“We needed a very powerful provider to cater for our growing needs and after a careful analysis of the major providers out there, we opted for Optima,” Alabi said, noting that the central Multichannel Gaming Suite has integrated a significant number of third party suppliers to add global scope.

The mobile and web elements are already operational, with retail about to follow, he revealed. Implementation has followed eight months of close collaboration between the companies which has delivered a strong platform that aggregates a wide range of services with centralised management
across multiple channels.

Alabi discussed the adjustments necessary to adapt the advanced Optima platform to the Nigerian market, commenting that the local Internet was not perfect, but that Optima had overcome this shortcoming by creating a lighter version of the mobile page, enabling Nairabet to cater for those with “not so smart phones” and 2G Internet.

Curciel explained that his company has a successful, established and flexible strategy for working with major organisations, enabling Optima to keep abreast of and implement new technologies to improve operational efficiency and business in the sports betting and gambling industry.

“Nairabet is the right partner for Optima for many reasons,” he said. “They have a clear approach to business, strategy and a line of work which we believe is a winner for the coming years. Optima product and team flexibility will permit Nairabet to react quickly to market challenges and demands.”

Alabi explained that in Nigeria the retail sector is larger than the online segment in terms of volume of transactions.

“Nigeria is a huge country of about 200 million people and with shops and kiosks in many corners, the volume of bet transactions is naturally high,” he said. “But I believe that in the next five years, online will take over.”

“Operators are already groaning over the cost of running retail and other logistics, and smart operators must find ways to convert their retail customers online,” he said, adding that in Nairabet’s case Optima had been chosen to help achieve the cross-over.

Curciel said that such a convergance of channels was not peculiar to Africa, but was also evident in other countries like Ireland and the United Kingdom, where Optima markets its Retail2Web systems to good effect.

“Retailers need to have a flexible platform that allows new ways to increase profit in-venue, and they require a strong online presence to compete with born-in-internet companies that only focus on the online market,” he said. “Products like our Retail2Web and iSHOP address both, bringing in-play betting to retail venues and connecting online and retail worlds under a single platform.”

Related and similar