Gradual Digitization of Nigeria’s Lottery Industry and Green Lotto’s Place in It

Pre-pandemic, Green Lotto recorded an online revenue of about five per cent, which has since swung up to over 30 per cent today. The surge reflects a deeper transformation and long-term goal of the pan-Nigerian company, established in 2016, report Nseobong Okon-Ekong and Iyke Bede

For years, Nigeria’s lottery industry crept toward digitization, first with machines replacing written paper slips, then with mobile payments and USSD codes chipping away at cash transactions. When COVID-19 accelerated the shift, Green Lotto, like its competitors, saw online demand spike. However, unlike many, the company had spent years refining its own tech stack: in-house servers, a proprietary gaming engine, a fintech arm known as NowNow, and agent training programs designed to synchronise street sales with digital growth.

Today, its online revenue hovers at 30 per cent, up from just five per cent pre-pandemic. According to the COO of Green Lotto, Sandeep Natu, the surge reflects a deeper transformation and long-term goal of the pan-Nigerian company, established in 2016 and expanding gradually in physical terms while doubling down on its online presence.

“The most exciting part is to have that satisfaction come from the customer that the product that you have produced and delivered is to his liking,” Natu revealed to GAMING WEEK, explaining the level of detail that goes into designing products that provide a seamless experience for the punters. Natu, a technical graduate with a master’s degree in IT and telecommunications, whose first contact with the industry was through Green Lotto, takes up every product development as a passion project. This was evident in the enthusiastic manner in which he talked about the relaunch of their website to a more advanced format.

“People don’t realise that most of the lottery operation, about 80 per cent, is IT. Because you have the app, you have the servers, you have the gaming engine, everything runs on a software. So it was almost as if I learned on the job,” said Natu.

Headquartered in Lagos and supported by a growing team of over a hundred professionals, the three-storey building it operates from is a tightly run ecosystem. The ground floor offers only a glimpse, home to studios for live draws, agent onboarding areas, and the digital support team that manages its website and social media. The upper levels house the administrative functions, with one floor dedicated entirely to NowNow.

Given the scale of operations and the volume of transactions observed at the backend, Natu regards Green Lotto as one of the top three lottery operators in the country. He acknowledged, however, that attaining such a position was no easy feat, particularly as the company entered a market dominated by well-established indigenous brands. He attributed much of its rapid growth to a technology-driven strategy that has enhanced its visibility and enabled it to capture a significant share of the betting market.

He, however, highlighted persistent challenges commonly faced by most revenue-generating lottery companies, including network and connectivity issues, regulatory complexities and overlaps, as well as concerns around public trust and perception.

“See, there are problems because sometimes the network is a problem, sometimes the terminal doesn’t work, sometimes there is an issue in the app,” said Natu. “But what we say is that we have two or three layers of contacts. So one is the sales executive, then is the customer care. And you can even send us an email, or you can call our call centre.”

Green Lotto adopts a proactive approach to resolving customer issues swiftly and internally. For instance, when a punter loses their slip, Natu explained that the customer is invited to verify their identity through a series of security questions matched against backend data. Once confirmed, the full winnings are paid out without hassle.

In compliance with various regulatory obligations, Green Lotto relies heavily on technology to screen players, observe patterns, and take necessary actions to reduce the growing menace of underage gambling and problem gambling.

“The first one is that some things are dictated by regulations. So, we normally check the date of birth of the person. So we don’t allow sales to 18 years of age and below,” Natu affirmed Green Lotto’s stance on compliance.

“When we use our gaming engine, we try to cut down repetitive patterns—people who try to play repetitively—and if they try and play too much, and he’s putting large amounts, then we try to block him so that he doesn’t come and just play too much. Our software gives us some unusual patterns. So if we notice an unusual pattern, depending on what that pattern is, we take action, and we try to block that,” Natu explained.

As Nigeria’s lottery sector continues its cautious yet steady march into the digital age, Green Lotto stands out as a company that strikes a balance between scale and agility. Its early investment in technology, commitment to compliance, and attention to user experience places it in a strong position within an increasingly competitive space. Yet, its trajectory also highlights a larger industry truth: that sustainable growth in lottery operations today requires more than just luck—it demands infrastructure, foresight, and a willingness to evolve with the times.