Airtel users to place Sportpesa bets via Airtel Money for free
Airtel Kenya is tapping into Sportpesa’s popularity to grow its Airtel Money usage.
Airtel has partnered with the betting firm to enable fans place bets using Airtel Money without a transaction charge, hoping to beat rivals in this sector.
Majority of Sportpesa gamers place their bets through SMS and use Safaricom’s M-Pesa to receive money. Airtel however now dangles new offers that would see the football fans swam over to Airtel Money owing to its free service.
The agreement allows Airtel Money users to deposit betting money on Airtel without parting with additional charges. It also allows free withdrawal of Sportpesa bet winnings to Airtel Money.
FREEDOM TO ENGAGE
Airtel Kenya CEO, Adil El Youssefi showed enthusiasm at the new partnership stating that it will give users freedom to engage in their passion for sports as they make money through Sportpesa.
“To register, subscribers must SMS the word ‘Game’ to 79079, and follow instructions. To place a bet, one will be required to top up their betting wallet through Airtel Money to the Sportpesa paybill name ‘SPORTPESA’ and on reference to write the word ‘FOOTBALL,” said El Youssefi at a briefing Thursday.
Sportpesa CEO Ronald Karauri said the move will ease user experience, “We believe this will provide an opportunity for more Airtel subscribers who are passionate about sports to make money out of this passion. Seeing that we provide the best odds and now there are no transaction charges, it’s more win with Sportpesa.”
The move marks one of Airtel’s many campaigns that could see it shore up its mobile money revenues.
Some latest partnerships include one with United Bank Of Africa and National Bank of Kenya. To attract more users, Airtel also removed transaction charges for customers sending money within the network.
