Betting is not an investment, but a gamble

“There are three ways to ruin a man: women, gambling and technician, the most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians”- Georges Pompidou.

Gambling can best be defined as a social disease, motivated by economic reasons. Gambling and betting is the worst "source of income" that anybody can ever depend on. Any country whose citizens depend on such chances for survival is at the verge of losing many of its subjects to poverty, scarcity and lack.

Gambling in Kenya has been taken to new levels with introductions of sports betting. Roping in the youth and adults alike, the culture of betting is drastically being entrenched in Kenya. Its effect is quickly and adversely becoming the new driver of chronic poverty amongst youthful Kenyans. Many who are struggling to make ends meet have resorted to this vice that has been clothed in sheepskin as an investment when it is open, broad-daylight robbing of the gullible; poor and rich alike.

Sports betting is, at its simplest, placing a financial wager on the outcome of a sporting match, as well as on events that occur within the larger match or fixture. The growth of sports betting and gambling promotion in Kenya is a relatively recent phenomenon. This seems to have been greatly aided by the mobile telephony coverage across the country and the innovative mobile money transfer service- Mpesa. 

From Sportpesa, Mcheza, Betin, BetYetu, Justbet, Eazibet, Betway, the list is endless to all manner of lotteries now on TV, Radio, Newspapers and even online media; gambling seems to have hit Kenyans like a bug.

But who are the real beneficiaries? Is it the bettor or the owners of these betting companies? Why has betting become the new business in town? Is it not because the above betting companies rake in billions from the naive who put in their last cent in the hope of hitting a jackpot?

The betting companies are largely and comfortably riding on the back of Kenyan youth who are largely unemployed and at times uneducated. These Youth who live below a dollar day daydream of quick riches. Access to a basic phone with Mpesa has propelled many into gaming.

Renowned scholar and UNCTAD boss Dr. Mukhisa Kituyu says “…you are seeing the sports gambling in Kenya today but nobody tells the gambling firms not to accept money from poor gamblers. It is the poor who must be told that they will live with the consequences of dreaming that gambling is an investment..."

A time has come when all Kenyans of goodwill must say NO to this sweet-bitter game of gambling. If nobody is saying something about this menace, today’s generation is conniving to raise a nation of gamblers.

The downside of betting

Other than the quick cash that one gets from football betting, there are limitless, bad effects of betting that are eating up precious lives of our population like canker worms.

It is important that the Youth understand that gambling from time immemorial has never alleviated poverty for the bettor. It is a game that was left to the super-rich, people who have more than they need and not those looking to earn a living. Gambling swindles the bettor. The probability of one winning is always very, very low. Only betting companies are dead sure that at any gaming, their gains will always outweigh the costs involved. They are the investors and must earn interest. Not the bettor who is in a pata, potea game. At the end of each betting day, we have a super-rich company and punters who gambled their income and lost.

Reports of students committing suicide after betting with their schools fees and after losing and losing are becoming common. It is also in the public domain that men have used all their income on bets ending up with broken relationships and marriages.

Football betting can turn into a dangerous two-way street when you least expect it. Because you are laying your money to chance, weird things happen suddenly and your life can go all to pieces. One minute you are rich and the next you are down to your last penny. Many of those involved in betting have a wrong mentality about wealth. They seem to believe that one day, just one day they’re luck will shine and they’ll become millionaires. Question is “how many millionaire gamblers do you know in your area?” The other downside of gambling is that it plunges individuals into untold health issues. Losing a bet causes sadness, high blood pressure, regret, depression and a whole lot of negative emotions including becoming insane. You need to see the anger and frustration in the eyes of those guys who lost to a bet. Those who not only lose that game because they are fanatical but lose their cash end up depressed and easily take to the noose.

The worst economic implication of a betting culture is that it makes Kenyan youths so lazy that they forget about doing anything for their lives. Most of them don’t even remember to take their bath leave alone look for work to do because they are busy gambling away their lives.

Betting robs the addicts of the ability to be creative. To amount to anything like those who innovated and come up with what we so much use today, you cannot achieve it through betting. If Bill Gates was busy gambling away his life there will be no Microsoft. If Mark Zuckerberg was using his time to search for the best betting site, there wouldn’t have been Facebook.

The Government of Kenya and the Civil Society need to come up with strategies that will deal with this gaming culture; Strategies and interventions that educate about the potential harms of sports betting, and not just how to engage in the same.

Social marketing campaigns advising of the risk of gambling as well as more general awareness raising education programs must be sustained in the growing face of gambling. This could be offered through schools, mainstream media, social media and social gatherings at the community level.

Though Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLS) has been instituted in Kenya, little is known of its work. Time has come for BCLS to be more robust in its interventions in safeguarding the well-being of Kenyans.

The Writer is a Communications Practitioner

[email protected]