It is no longer news that betting, gambling and gaming have become so popular in Nigeria, despite concerns by many faith-based organisations who consider these antisocial activities and preaches against it.
Interestingly, the advent of online betting has drastically contributed to the rise of gambling in the country due to easy access to betting sites.
Furthermore, online betting has continued to grow in Nigeria in recent years and this is evident in the increase in betting companies such as, Bet9ja, 1xBet, BetKing, BetWinner, N1Bet, Parimatch, 22bet and Yangasport amongst others, multiplying the number of entrants into the gambling industry.
The high rate of unemployment and poverty, especially among young people has been directly attributed to the major cause for the rise in gambling, betting and gaming in the country.
Also, a big number of those involved are students.
In an interview with this reporter, some high institution students explained how and why they get involved in online betting and other gambling activities.
While some said they do it for survival, others revealed that it is a means of earning extra cash to spend.
Segun Akinrodoye, a student of University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID, said he started betting even before he begin his degree program.
His reason he said, is to settle financial issues for his family.
“Well, then things were a little bit hard for my parents and myself too. My father is seriously sick and I already owed school fees for my fourth year before going for I.T,” he says.
Aged 25, Akinrodoye said the hope to earn huge amount of money kept him going despite the regular lost.
Though he is yet to win huge sum of money, Akinrodoye said he hasn’t stopped placing bets.
“I picked myself up again,” he said about his loss, adding that “I might be close now so I’m not giving up yet.”
Narrating one of his dilemma in the betting business, he said he was close to making over N100m from betting in March this year.
”It was a single game that cut my ticket. My God, I cried, honestly. A friend told me to change the Leicester option to handicap win but I didn’t. I wanted to, but I don’t know how I overlooked it,“ lamented Akinrodoye.
As a gambling addict, Akinrodoye, like other gamblers, spends an average of N3,000 weekly on multiple games, while the highest amount he has made from placing bets on football games is N127,000.
Damjuma Musa, also a student of UNIMAID and a regular staker said that he makes a living from betting, noting that before delving into it, he considered those engaging in it as unserious people.
An NCE graduate, Musa’s journey into betting began when he graduated from school in 2018.
Eager to find a job and also enroll for degree program, Musa said lack of opportunities and support forced him into betting.
“I have to find a means to survive and man must chop, that was when I decided to go into betting, and since then I have never regretted it,” he said.
Henry Aiyana, another staker attributed the surge of students into gambling to the economic situation in the country, noting that they gamble to make a living.
Jennifer Bitrus, also a student, shares her own opinion about gambling and betting.
She said that betting is a legal business and is trending now.
She noted that even celebrities are promoting it and many students saw an opportunity in it to improve their lives financially in campus.
”Even me as a lady do engage in bet and I am not ashamed of my hustle,” she added.
Speaking to this reporter in his betting shop in Maiduguri, Ciroma Audu, a Bet9ja manager in Maisandari community, said that he ventured into the business because of the high revenue in it.
“There is money in the betting business that is why I decided to put money together to own a betting shop,” he said.
Another patron, who wants to be identified as Atiro, told this reporter that betting is gaining new entrants everyday for easy money and it is the highest investment venture Nigerian students invest in.
The attraction, he noted, is in the hope to win big cash and that hope hardly dies if you started.
