82% Of Kenyan Youth Use Mobile Money For Gambling

As the use of mobile money platforms continues to take almost every transaction in Kenya, it has emerged that 82 percent of Kenyan youth are using mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa to transact for gambling and betting.

According to GeoPoll, Kenyan youth seem to be the biggest gamblers on the African continent with over 12 million active betting account holders who lose an estimated 2 billion US Dollars annually.

The top 12 gambling websites in Kenya have a total financial turnover of 250 billion shillings, the amount that is more than Kenya’s recurrent budget.

In 2019, the Ministry of Interior stated that at least 72 percent of Kenyan youth were active gamblers attributing the increase in depression among the youth to betting activities.

64 percent of Kenyan youth use mobile money to buy airtime, 82 percent use it to pay for PayTv in order to access content while 71 percent of them use mobile money to pay for home internet.

In Uganda, 75 of the youth use mobile money for gambling and betting activities, 62 percent for purchasing airtime, 79 percent for PayTv, while 72 percent of them use mobile money for home internet.

In Tanzania, 76 percent of the youth use mobile money for gambling, 64 percent of them for purchasing airtime, 74 percent for PayTv and 72 percent for home internet payment.

In Ghana, 76 percent of youth transact via mobile money platforms for gambling, 60 percent for the purchase of airtime, 57 percent to pay for TV services and 51 percent for home internet.

In Nigeria, only 27 percent of the youth use mobile money for gambling, 32 percent for airtime purchase, 28 percent to pay for TV services and 35 percent for home internet.

In Cote d’Ivoire, 40 percent of the youth in the country use mobile money for betting, 34 percent for purchasing airtime, 0 (zero) percent for purchasing TV services and 25 percent for home internet.

On average, in the countries covered, 63 percent use mobile money for online gambling, 54 percent for home internet, 53 percent for the purchase of airtime and 53 percent for purchasing content on TV.

Source: sokodirectory.com

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