BETTING NIGERIA Buhari’s N5k cash for subsidy could fuel sports betting 2 years ago Szarlot Post Views: 433 On Wednesday, November 24th the Nigerian Government announced it was offering N5,000 monthly each for about 40 million Nigerians. The amount represents a palliative meant to help recipients alleviate the pain that a full subsidy removal could bring. The cash for subsidy program is likely to cost the federal government about N2.4 trillion annually if it were to implement next year as planned. Expectedly, the Nigerian Labour Conference has rejected the offer terming it “Penny wide pound foolish”, a saying for bad financial judgement. But while Labour might be against this move for obvious reasons, it could be a major boost for some sectors of the Nigerian economy. One of such sectors is the Sports Betting Industry. Why Sports Betting? Nigerians who live below the poverty line have a remarkably high tolerance for dabbling from one get rich quick scheme to another, hoping to multiply their money with little effort except for a dose of good luck. According to survey from NOI Polls, 4 in 10 Nigerians engage in Sports Betting spending an average of N3k per day. This suggests the price point for sports betting enthusiasts in the country is in the region of N3k to N5k falling right within the purchasing power of the proposed cash for subsidy payment. Typically, one-time consumer windfalls are often deployed in manners different from expectations. As an example, in the USA, the assessments of the early stimulus checks paid to US citizens suggested that most of them simply didn’t spend the money (the exact opposite of what it was intended to do). This partly was due to concerns that unemployed folks didn’t know where their next payouts would come from. Consequently, the US government publicly announced that the next set of stimulus payouts wouldn’t be a one-off but rather a series of payments. Thus, giving folks more confidence to go out and spend money to boost the economy. The second approach to communicating frequency of stimulus payments succeeded in encouraging folks to spend money, however, it also encouraged others to utilize some of the extra money to become more speculative. Whereby some folks realizing they had incoming liquidity from the government simply diverted some of their funds to meme stocks on the stock markets as well as little known cryptocurrencies. In other words, despite the best intentions of government stimulus payouts, human irrationality could lead to unintended consequences. Psychologists have written severally about the irrationality of human beings when it comes to making decisions, especially about money. Thus, expecting that the cash for subsidy windfall will be spent on food or transport could end up being a huge error of judgement by the government. Are welfare programs effective? The idea of social welfare programs isn’t new for Nigeria, furthermore, we have seen attempts in more recent times by the Central Bank of Nigeria to intervene in specific sectors of the economy. However, the economic impact of social welfare and stimulus has yet to be reflected in actual GDP growth rate improvement, thus the economy just keeps plodding along with underwhelming GDP growth rates. To be clear, direct economic stimulus payouts is always a well-intentioned initiative, especially because from an economic perspective, stimulus payouts should in theory boost consumer spending and then boost GDP growth. However, for that boost to happen, there needs to be a high degree of confidence that Nigerians will actually receive the money and then spend it as intentioned to boost the economy. What is even more strange about this N5k subsidy proposal is that it is supposed to be a short-term 12-month exercise whilst the fuel subsidy removal is forever!! The jury is out on exactly how the FG intends to identify the so-called poor Nigerians of 30million to 40million folks. Especially when the existing social welfare program of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) only has a dismal fraction of “poor” Nigerians registered. In addition to the issue of actually identifying 30million to 40million poor Nigerians in less than 12 months, the FG then has to address the issue of ensuring N5k stimulus payouts are actually used for expenses that benefit the Nigerian economy. One way to find out could be the CBN’s struggling eNaira initiative, assuming it is the basis for distributing the N5,000 cash for subsidy payments. Source: nairametrics.com About Post Author Szarlot I am a fan of casino games especially roulette and blackjack. After that I analyze current events in the gambling industry. See author's posts SzarlotI am a fan of casino games especially roulette and blackjack. After that I analyze current events in the gambling industry. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Print Tags: Nigeria, sportsbetting Continue Reading Previous Why Kenyan bettors are laying record figures on betting sites this yearNext Betika Signs Partnership Deal with Asante Kotoko More Stories LOTTERIES NIGERIA Nationwide league signs N964m sponsorship deal, unveils technical partners 21 hours ago Szarlot NIGERIA ONLINE Can Lagos become Africa’s gaming hub? 21 hours ago Szarlot BETTING BURUNDI 1xBet supported women with albinism in Burundi 4 days ago Tools EXPERTS NIGERIA Africa Surges to Become Third Largest E-gaming Market With 186M Players 4 days ago Samuel BETTING NIGERIA PalmPay And BetKing Promote Responsible Gaming In Nigeria 4 days ago Samuel BETTING SIERRA LEONE Sierra Leone welcomes betPawa 4 days ago Samuel BETTING GHANA The captivating world of sports betting in Africa 5 days ago Samuel EXPERTS NIGERIA Binance executives detained in Nigeria 5 days ago Samuel BETTING IVORY COAST FL Entertainment eyes further African growth after revenue jump 6 days ago Samuel EXPERTS NIGERIA Binance Exits Nigeria, Government Launches Crypto Inquiry 6 days ago Samuel BETTING NIGERIA Should sports betting be banned or regulated? 7 days ago Szarlot EXPERTS NIGERIA The Future of Gaming Unveiled at AGE LAGOS 2024! 7 days ago Samuel Leave a Reply Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.