Sports Betting: The Tales of Nigerian Students
Grace Dolor
Legal gambling in sports, especially in football, is becoming popular everyday among sports enthusiasts in Nigeria. While these sports betting companies like Sportybet, 9jabet, Nairabet, and 1xbet have no doubt provided jobs opportunities for Nigerians, their existence is at the detriment of young people, especially university students who struggle to eat a balanced diet.
Most university students are unable to combine schooling and work, most times relying on their parents or guardians for financial upkeep. So in a bid to make extra money from watching their favourite sport, they go into sports betting. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Most times, the losses exceed the wins. This leaves these students with the desperation to win back what they have lost, then they become addicted and it becomes a betting cycle.
Speaking to several students of the university to anonymously share their experiences, it was revealed that some had extreme cases of addiction, while some were able to control the habit of sports betting.
An alumnus of the University of Ibadan from the Department of Linguistics said “I used my fees to bet when I was in 300 level. At that time, my friends used to boast of winning as much as 50,000 naira and one of them gave me a ‘sure code’ and told me I would win for sure. I didn’t have money so I used my technology fee to place the bet. Thank God it was just 10,000 naira. I couldn’t tell my parents so I had to save from my feeding allowance and starve sometimes just to gather the money.”
A 300 level student of the Department of English, when asked what exactly is the reason for engaging in sports betting, said “Sometimes it’s the love for the sports, and sometimes it’s to double and make more money”. He also added that losing money to betting might be painful at first, but with time “you’d get over it.” He told AFAS Press correspondence that he had lost 7,000 naira as he was being interviewed.
The reality of sports betting is that not only men engage in it. A 300 level female student of the Department of Special Education admitted that she plays sports betting a lot, and claims that she even plays more than the average man.
“Betting is not for guys alone, in fact I play more and better than guys, because I don’t stake based on my club or the player I like, I use logic. I mostly play Sportybet and 1xbet, but sportybet is the one I have won from the most. It is just about tactics. There is no day I don’t bet,” she said.
When asked how sports betting has affected her finances and if she thinks it is something she could stop, she said “Well, I won’t say it has affected my finances. Of course, sometimes I use my last money to bet, but I still win it back. At least, I have won 80,000 naira from sporty at once before. That day, I staked 20,000 naira and I won 4 times the money. I used that money to get some important stuff I needed for school, so I will say it has days where it helps out, so I can’t stop playing.”
When asked how she started gambling she said, “I have three brothers and they all bet, so I learnt from them.”
Nigerian students who play sports betting have had their own fair share of its effects. While some have lost good money and had to starve to repay debts, some have won money that helped them meet their needs. However, this brings up the question of whether the money they eventually win is worth how much they have lost, and whether they realise sports betting is a harmful addiction, rather than just a game?
