Bet9ja: Naija Fans Choice

The Reinassance

Reward for passion is the message that speaks out of any broadcasting medium and a message that is on anything “print”. Bet9ja a Nigerian outfit which claims to be number one in the country owns this alluring message.

Sports betting seemed to have a revival between 2012 & 2013, a time when it was as good as dead, perceived to be entirely illicit, unpopular and the spirit of sports enveloped all reason and sentiment attached to the activity of betting. ‘Tete’ known as bet in local parlance hit the vigorous emotions of football fans in the country with one key motivation, cash.

The opportunity to make money from all “highs and lows” the sporting scene had to offer became available to all, old & young, male or female, fan or neutral. Fans no longer had to reminisce on the good old days of ‘pool’ or just view European bet sites while surfing the internet. The sporting culture(dominated by football) was going to take a new turn.

Branding and Marketing

Frankly speaking, there has been a presence of bet outfits around, but they just didn’t have the power or influence to change the shape of the sporting scene.

Many bet outfits came back as brands with strengthened professionalism and intense marketing on all mediums available; they were everywhere and Bet9ja was leading the advert coup to attract patronage.

Smartphones were fast becoming integral and social media tweaked the conventional type of mass media which carved a niche for online betting in the country were only few outfits capitalized(not all could keep up). Bet9ja quickly gave persons the platform to forecast games, book tickets via smartphones and print out slips.

Maximum Reward

Bet9ja often promises of the highest payout which has piqued interest of bettors, the amount has changed quite a number of times to raise the stakes and competition. Their maximum payout is N50,000,000 compared to Nairabet N20,000,000(the second best outfit).

Proximity

In a research conducted by Benjamin Dada (content creator) two years ago he estimates a humongous 3033 Bet9ja shop scattered across Lagos state with an estimate of 60 persons visiting the shops a day. This allows for offline users to place bets at ease or online users who alternate between playing games online and printing tickets or engage themselves with the virtual game popularly known as ‘baby’ or ‘aja 1’.

This network of shops allows the outfit to be anywhere, all a patron need do is ask.

Bet9ja coupled their marketing campaign with the capability to reach interested customers at neighborhood or community areas, this increased their popularity and bottom line.

User Experience

One attractive package Bet9ja has as a brand is a simple to use website which ensures an effortless user experience.

The website(irrespective of version) won’t have anyone wondering how to use; everything is a click away.

The simplicity of the site gage a satisfactory quality that could keep anyone with a smartphone on the site to place bets back to back.

Bet9ja aware of Nigerians unwillingness to change still ensure bettors can access a particular old version of their site via the present upgrade or accessing it through the platform of search engines like Google.

Sponsorship

Now while Bet9ja may sponsor sports shows on radio and television(like most bet outfits) featuring top pundits like Femi Obong Daniels and Olawale Adigun which draw a significant amount of traffic on their shows and on social media for various sporting discuss, Bet9ja has often stepped outside the conventional scope of advertising.

Bet9ja has fiercely sponsored events and establishment.

“On 10 September 2013, Bet9ja signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Remo Stars F.C. during the official unveiling of Bet9ja.

In 2017, Bet9ja signed a 200 Million Naira sponsorship agreement with Nigeria’s penultimate men’s football league, the Nigeria National League.

In March 2019, the Ekiti Fa announced Bet9ja as league sponsors for the amateur league event.

The maiden edition of the National Anti-corruption marathon was organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in partnership with Bet9ja in December 2018.

Bet9ja was announced as headline sponsor of the fourth season of Big Brother Naija” – Wikipedia.

Innovations and Tweaks

With the gambling industry rising at a fast pace, valued at a billion dollars in Nigeria. Most betting outfits have come up with key adjustments to their product. The “one game cut” option for bettors, which creates a circumstance whereby a bettor is guaranteed of reward if only one game outcome fails in a multiple game slip or ticket.

However, other bet outfits beat Bet9ja to this race with Sporty Bet allowing for a two game cut window in late 2019.

Another tweak is the “cash out” option which offer bettors the ample opportunity to request for reward before the ultimate stake placed on other games is realized on a multiple outcome slip.

Conclusion

Tracing the rejuvenation of the gambling industry, introduction of social media into our everyday activities, high reward, tweaks, and taking into consideration the country’s economic situation (unemployment & belt-tightening situations) its not farfetched that the sector became a multimillion dollar industry under half a decade/dozen years.

In any sector a particular outfit must standout or become a dominant force, or exploit opportunity.

Its a safe call to put Bet9ja out there as the “few among many” who became household names from taking advantage of the Nigerian sporting culture and maybe economic situation.

Based on their popularity compiled by the Alexa ranking as the second most visited site in Nigeria it only goes to show that the outfit is a fans favorite.

Bet9ja nearness to everyone has enveloped many who have the N100 to spare across the country and their reach has expanded to neighbouring international cities like Cotonou with a squadron of centres to match their presence and hoist their emblem in local communities of Benin Republic.

Other bet outfits might have legitimate shouts to the punting throne but by popular demand, the only outfit ambitiously meeting the supply to sporting aficionados is Bet9ja who reward your passion.