“Your boyfriend get broken heart but no be you do am, bet chop am”.
This is one of many popular sayings when one loses a bet they were so keen on winning. Sports betting is fast becoming one of the easy ways of making quick money in the country.
From a time when users had to visit betting premises to an era where you get to stake your bets from your comfort zone, indeed sports betting has evolved. Technology really has its perks. Away from the prying eyes of elders in society or the few who would stigmatize you, the enterprise is really making grounds, particularly with the youth of today.
Seven out of 10 male youths in Ghana are engaged directly or indirectly in sports betting most—notably soccer betting. It has become a means of survival considering certain circumstances surrounding this part of the world and during these trying times when even the strongest of economies are facing challenges.
With most of our youth not finding decent jobs that will pay them respectable wages, betting is one of their means of making money. An increasing number of young people have turned to sports betting for survival or as a means to augment their incomes.
A number of people have been successful in cashing out huge amounts of money with the highest recorded at 19 million Ghana Cedis (GH₵) which is the dollar equivalent of $2,952,303.60. It has become lucrative enough that there is a recorded number of instances where workers have been apprehended for taking monies from their workplaces to place a bet.
In a brief conversation with Kelvin*, he claimed he has had enough of betting. “Betting has taken more than it has given him, I’m even tired of it,” he declares.
However, in a separate conversation with David*, he tells me to become a pro in a betting enterprise, you need to be strategic. “We are the gurus of this thing, we give odds and things (laughs) them no dey chop we, ebi we dey chop,” he added.
James* was very optimistic about his chances of winning big one day, stressing that “not everyday is a Friday, we will definitely win another day.”
This explains why some opinion leaders in our societies think the youth are growing lazier by the day, as they spend most part of their day calculating odds and staking bets. A good number of productive hours that could be used for work is lost to betting.
It is legal to participate in online sports betting in Ghana under the Lotteries Betting Act (1960) which was the first legislation that allowed for sports gambling, followed by the Gambling Machines Act (1973), the Casino Licensing Act (1975) and the Gaming Act (2006) which gives the Gaming Commission the responsibility to regulate sports betting.
This implies that domestic and international gambling providers can set up offices in Ghana with online betting being the least regulated form of gambling.
Sports betting would not be quite a definitive term in this context. For some, it may be a menace that needs to be curbed while for others it is an avenue that is making them cash out big—if you have a lot of luck on your side.
Whichever of the two it may be, it is what it is.
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of members of the community.
