International Lottery & Gaming Limited is a formidable player in Nigeria’s lottery and gaming market. Duly registered and recognised by regulatory bodies, the firm drives the operations of Naija Lottery and Bettabet.ng, a gaming platform. In this exclusive interview, Managing Director, Manolis Lambrakis speaks on the recent launch of Bettabet and exciting offerings for sports betting enthusiasts, the place of trust and the brand’s plans to deepen entertainment with new offerings for the lottery and gaming business. Excerpts.
You have interest in the betting business. Speak to us about your mission in Nigeria
I started out as a computer engineer shortly after graduating from a Greek university where I studied computer science. I worked briefly as computer engineer in a couple of insurance and telecommunications. I’ve worked in almost all of the business sectors hinged on services. I have deep work experience spanning over three decades from working at Vodafone Group for 11 years but also in Deutsche Telekom recently, in Microsoft Greece as Country Services Director for 4 years.
In 2010 I took interest in the lottery business. In the process, I was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Intralot Netherlands. At Intralot, we had double-staged lottery services, providing Gaming Systems, operations and Telecom services to the two state controlled lotteries in Holland, under very strict and controlled regulatory framework. I occupied the position for six years and remained in the lottery market as consultant until I become CEO in ILGL
I came to Nigeria last December and since then I have been working on ensuring our operations at Naija Lottery stays on the path of growth. If you examine my years in business and as a professional, you will understand my transition from being a technical guy to becoming a well-rounded business guy. I have a sound knowledge of trends and operations of diverse lottery markets around the world. I’m bringing this deep experience base to the fore to change the face of lottery and gaming in Nigeria.
What have you discovered as regards lottery operations in Nigeria considering your rich knowledge base? How is the knowledge shaping the operations of International Lottery and Gaming Limited?
The lottery business in Nigeria is quite similar to other African countries. Although these markets are not as strong and mature like markets in Europe, we have a couple of very successful and competitive companies doing business in Nigeria. However, most of them offer single games. They are either sports betting companies or lottery games ventures and it is too difficult to find varieties of games providing both entertainment and the opportunity to win. For instance, big jackpot lotteries aren’t available in the country. Similarly, it is interesting to note there is an absence of massive entertaining lotteries which inspires me for instance to spend some of my time on visiting a games store, play preferred games and have fun too. Customers should be able to place bets on different sports. At the same time, they should be able to spend on Keno and other virtual games, sit at a nice place and socialise with other people in the process. Also, I have observed that Nigerians want to know what will be the outcome of games as well as pay-out. For instance, they are aware that if they bet N100, they can get up to N2,000 in return.
At the time International Lottery and Gaming Limited was conceived and established, I had the vision to make the company the most trusted lottery and gaming brand in Nigeria. The vision is still very much alive. In clear terms, you need time to build trust. Before you earn people’s trust and confidence, you need to convince them that you are transparent. This is what we are trying to sustain with the launch of our Bettabet.ng. This is related to the fact that Naija Lottery is a few years in the market now and the business is prospering on trust. Although the presence was limited at the onset, now we have the funds to expand and establish presence pan-Nigeria.
What experience(s) will the consumer have access to playing Bettabet?
Bettabet is offering a different style of gaming. We have a presence now in the market that can be compared to what competitors have created. We run a platform that is beyond just declaring our presence. Customers will enjoy more personalised services because at the end of the day, if you do a checklist of what you receive as a player by playing with Company X or Company Y. there are certain points that endears you to our site or another. The site’s interface is user-friendly and attractive. Customers will also enjoy the best odds in the market. Upon accessing our services, the consumer will not go through extensive processes in form of registration. We want the customer to have access to simplified registration and reliable means of payment and prompt payment
You are offering a mouth-watering bonus of 150% to customers. What’s the reason behind this?
The 150% bonus is a means of engaging with the customer. I understand that some gaming companies give varying bonuses on bets from 100% to 2000%. I think 150% is a good start for us because we want people to come to us and ask us about what we are selling. It is a means of getting customers to visit us because a lot of activities play out on our site. It is not limited to one game or sport; take for instance football because of its popularity. They can play games like Keno, 5/90, and a couple of Casino games that are very good. Also, we give the player the ability to walk around and it’s not just about winning or losing. Rather it’s about giving people an opportunity to stay with us.
The Nigerian market is perhaps still a young market and gaming is at the introductory stage of its life cycle hence people are still learning. Do you subscribe to this?
I disagree with this partially. One important thing that makes a product/service successful in Nigeria is the matter of trust. I believe people don’t trust brands as much as they should; they have perhaps lost confidence in certain brands because they don’t get desired results. You will find examples in local brands that have emerged successful through building and winning the hearts and minds of people with trust.
You have deep experience in the lottery industry as well as understanding of the Nigerian gaming market. How much do you think is transacted in the lottery industry monthly?
Pay-outs are games specific. Each game has specific pay-out because it is based on specific odds. Save for alteration or manipulation, the pay-out remains the same. If you play the 5/90 game here in Nigeria or Ghana or in the United States, the pay-outs will be the same. It hasn’t changed. The only distinguishing factor here is how you present the game to players and how you approach the players. For instance, some players don’t play specific games because they aren’t aware of the style and what is obtainable. There are fast games, there are slow games. There are games of skills and games of chance. We don’t exact figures on value but we can provide estimates. The truth is, there is no available data on the value of the gaming industry for now. The figures we can provide are based on meetings and reports people give. The market is estimated at about N700 billion. If you look at this on a monthly basis, that’s over N60 billion in a month.
Beyond gaming, do you have plans for making the brand socially responsible?
As we grow and establish our presence, we will devout resources to giving back to the society. It’s just not right to make profits out of the society only and not return anything. We want to grow through sponsoring good causes, from sports to science and technology.
