What sports are the most popular for betting in Nigeria?

The most recent technological advances have had a major impact on the sudden growth of many online businesses in African countries, specifically South Africa and Nigeria. These two countries have been the first to respond to global developments, and they are now regarded as highly opportunistic territories for acquisitions in a diverse variety of niches.

Sports betting, especially in its online nature, is not an exception. We have seen a huge increase in its visibility over the past few years. Since the Internet is now widely accessible in the majority of Nigerian territory, the world’s leading sports betting operators have plenty of time to react. They also seized the opportunity and wanted to expand their corporate lines into uncharted territory.

We scoured the market to determine which sports piqued the interest of local bettors.

Football

Football is the most popular sport in the world, with all due respect to other sports. It is nearly impossible to find a child in Nigeria who does not enjoy football, and we can confidently state that football is by far the most common sport in this region. We can all recall many famous magicians who wore the “Super Eagles” shirt throughout history. Rashidi Yekini, Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Tiyani Babangida, and Obafemi Martins have all made significant contributions to their clubs. Nigeria hosted the African Cup of Nations twice (in 1980 and 2000), and in 2009, it invited the world’s strongest U17 teams to the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

With such a reputation, it is easy to infer that football is by far the most common sport for betting in Nigeria. Because of the aforementioned growth of the online betting industry, residents would have access to a vast variety of betting markets. Nigerians will thoroughly pursue their offerings since the majority of business giants are present on their soil.

One of the top five online sports betting tips is to analyze the competition. This is where having a variety of leagues and tournaments comes in handy. Local bettors may put their football experience to the test by forecasting the results of matches in their local football league or by selecting one of the top five European leagues (among others). The Spanish La Liga, English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FIFA World Cup, African Cup of Nations, and other competitions are all available. The list continues on and on, encompassing the majority of European, South American, Asian, and African leagues.

Basketball

Basketball has a special place in the hearts of Nigerians, despite the fact that they have never been successful on a world stage at all in this sport. After all, the nation produced NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon. During his prime, the former Houston Rockets athlete was one of the sport’s biggest names.

Basketball is a much smoother sport than football, and as such, it has a much wider variety of betting lines. In the Over/Under market, bookmakers now offer odds ranging from 180,5 to 240,5. The chances vary according to the line, but you can back a certain match to score more points than predicted and get better odds at a less attractive line.

The player success market has also grown in popularity recently, especially for NBA games. The Nigerians normally have favourites and will be rooting for specific players to bring in a good show in the evening. For example, they have consistently backed Giannis Antetokounmpo to score at least 30 points in his Milwaukee Bucks games.

Boxing

Boxing is also linked with the origins of Nigerian sports history. It was a way for men to express their masculinity while also establishing personal respect and dignity in their communities. The sport soon became an unavoidable component of all local festivals, and this is where Nigerians’ love of boxing stems from.

Boxing is not one of the most common sports for betting in the world, but it is very popular in Nigeria. We live in a time when any boxer’s fight can be conveniently found on the Internet. You should research their tactics to get a greater understanding of their chances against a certain adversary.

Aside from the match winner market, you will wager on the cumulative number of rounds and how the contest will end.

Rugby

While its success is nowhere near that of football or basketball, rugby has long been one of Nigerians’ favourite sports to wager on. During the 2019 World Cup in Japan, local sportsbooks got a large number of bets.

Track and Field

When it comes to this list, no other sport is important. The bulk of bets is placed on football, with a small portion placed on the three sports listed above. Nonetheless, we believe track and field is the best way to round out the list because Nigerians are normally pumped up during big athletics tournaments. However, this is the only time that bookmakers should predict Nigerian betting activity on this particular sport.

The country has seen some success in the Olympic games but those successes were years ago. However, Nigerians can still pull through to support their country whenever the Olympics rolls around. You can expect them to be betting on Olympic games and their outcomes