Hooked: Sports betting addiction in Ghana youth

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Despite Ghana being largely a religious country, and the fact that religious people are known to abhor betting, betting shops have sprung up in sprawling communities around the country. Some can be found in corners, around busy markets and lorry parks, wherever people can be found – betting shops can be seen.

With a betting slip in his hands, Joel, a 32-year-old man wearing a white shirt and a pair of black shorts, cautiously gives an analogy:

“Just like someone who is smoking. I am not saying am addicted, but betting has become part of me. I’m finding a way to stop it because it can’t help me.”

Like Joel, there are many young Ghanaians, mostly men, there are some women too, who are gradually succumbing to the lure of sports betting with the hope that one day, they would win big.

The sports betting companies slid into the country quietly more than 10 years ago but are now taking front seats – with large advertising billboards decorating streets across Ghana. They have become loud with radio and TV commercials and push hard with all forms of marketing strategies including big budget sponsorships, and they are getting Ghanaian youth hooked. Most of them facing unemployment, poverty and hopelessness are finding solace in sports betting.

According to the World Bank’s 6th Ghana Economic Update titled “Preserving the future: rising to the youth employment challenge,” released in July 2022, Ghana’s youth has grown rapidly and now represents 36 per cent of the population. The economy’s strong growth performance of the past 30 years has however not delivered enough jobs for them, it adds

The National Population Census in 2021 found that approximately three-quarters of unemployed adults were ‘young’. The report notes further that while governments have created multiple policies and programmes to address youth unemployment over the years, the many programmes aimed at helping the youth have often fallen short of the massive needs.

While investigating the phenomena of sports betting in Ghana, I found that some of the young people hooked to betting are traders, but most are unemployed, while others have poorly paid jobs.

Joel is a school drop-out from Nigeria. He migrated to Ghana and settled in the Eastern Regional capital of Koforidua. In the betting shop where I met him in the suburb of Adweso, about 12 young men hunched over computer terminals. Like everyone else, they hoped to make fortunes from their wins. They all have recorded more losses than wins, and yet they keep betting, hoping for their lucky day.

Like Joel, there are many young Ghanaians, mostly men, there are some women too, who are gradually succumbing to the lure of sports betting with the hope that one day, they would win big.

Source: ghanabusinessnews.com