GAMBLING on football has become a huge and growing industry in Tanzania worth billions of shillings per year, but there are now serious concerns over how the youth are getting addicted to sports betting with devastating consequences.
A survey by The Guardian on Sunday has revealed that sports betting shops are cropping up rapidly in all the country’s major urban centres as more and more Tanzanians, especially young males below the age of 30, get hooked to gambling.
Tanzania has a strong football fan base, making it a potentially huge market for sports betting. Gambling activities usually peak during weekends when popular football leagues around the world such as the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga and the German Bundesliga host soccer matches.
Driven by their love for foreign football leagues and high poverty and unemployment levels, thousands of youths across Tanzania are increasingly turning to gambling.
Some of the companies that offer sports betting services in Tanzania include PremierBet, Supabets, M-Bet, MkekaBet, William Hill and other firms.
A member of Parliament, Asha Abdullah Juma, warned the government in the recently-concluded parliamentary session that gambling addiction among youths has now become a national crisis.
The MP wanted to know what the government was doing to curtail the ongoing rapid proliferation of sports betting shops. She noted that gambling addiction was wrecking havoc in many families in the country, where parents are having to deal with increasingly anti-social behaviour of their children as a result of betting.
The lawmaker said the country's youths, mostly young men, were spending too much time in sports betting shops instead of engaging themselves in education or some productive activity.
However, Deputy Minister for Finance and Planning Dr Ashatu Kijaji defended sports betting shops, casinos and slot machines, saying they were licensed to operate in the country by the Gaming Board of Tanzania.
According to results of the national 2012 census, a staggering 80 per cent of Tanzania’s estimated population of 50 million is aged 35 years or below.
This means that given the massive popularity of European football leagues in the country, potentially millions of Tanzanians are at risk of becoming sports betting addicts. These favourable demographics have enticed dozens of international and local companies to open all manner of gambling businesses in the country targeting youths and middle class Tanzanians.
An addictive game
Some of the sports betting companies in Tanzania post photos at their establishments of youths who bet a few thousand shillings on football matches but ended up winning tens of millions of shillings.
They also do publicity campaigns in the local media whenever someone wins a big amount of money to entice more Tanzanians to start gambling. But what they don't say is that the incidents where lucky few punters win millions of shillings are actually few and far between.
But such rags-to-riches stories lure dozens of youths to spend their meagre income on sports betting. However, for every single punter who wins, thousands more across Tanzania lose the bets and their incomes.
Huruka Suleiman, a 30-year-old resident of Kijitonyama suburb in Dar es Salaam told The Guardian on Sunday that he has become addicted to sports betting along with many of his friends, forcing him to spend a major segment of his income on the game of chance of predicting the outcome of football matches.
“A friend of mine taught me how to do it. He once bet for European premier league matches and won a huge sum of money,” he said, adding:
“Since then the cash that my friend won has always tempted me to go to betting shops every week to try my luck.”
However, for Suleiman the gambling activity has left him with constant disappointment from one day to the next.
“I only win a few shillings once in a while, but I have lost so much money from gambling. I still continue to gamble even today because I know one day I will win big - just like my friend,” he said.
He said he was now spending up to three-quarters of his monthly income on gambling, especially during English Premier League football matches on weekends.
Suleiman admits that his sports gambling addiction has denied his family money for upkeep and development, saying he often quarrels with his wife over finances.
“My wife often inquires how I have spent my salary, because it hardly reaches mid-month due to the money I invest in sports betting,” he said.
The self-confessed sports addict cautions other youths like him to be very careful before they decide to involve themselves in gambling because it can ruin their lives and their future.
“Youths need to focus their minds on studies and development initiatives and not on gambling like I do,” he said, adding that without proper guidance gambling is very dangerous to their lives.
Another Dar es Salaam resident, John Makungwa, said he too spends thousands of shillings of his income each week on sports betting, but was yet to win any big amount of money.
Money spinner
Despite complaints that gambling addiction was potentially ruining the lives of many young Tanzanians, sports betting is said to be contributing about Sh1.6 billion each month to government coffers in terms of taxes.
Acting Director General of the Gaming Board of Tanzania James Mbalwe told the Guardian on Sunday that revenue collections from casinos, slot machines and sports betting have been booming, often times surpassing targets.
“Previously, at least 80 per cent of the total revenues from gaming would come from casinos, but it has since been overtaken by sports betting,” he said.
Mbalwe said gaming activities were contributing around Sh2 billion per month in revenue, adding that there were currently at least 13 registered sports betting operators in the country.
He said the registered firms have at least 231 registered sports betting centres across Tanzania, of which 178 operate in Dar es Salaam. This effectively makes Dar es Salaam the gambling capital of Tanzania.
“Sports betting is not only about income; it is used as a type of recreation as well,” he said while encouraging operators to open up more centres in rural areas.
Critics of gambling said sports betting and other games of chance had become like a sort of tax on Tanzanians, exacerbating their already difficult financial situations.
A lecturer from the Institute of Social Work in Dar es Salaam, MinaniNtahosanzwe, said gambling addiction can cause youths to lack creativity and innovation on how to improve their lives.
Ntahosanzwe said since the inception of sports betting activities in the city a few years ago, several youths have been reluctant to engage themselves in gainful activities on the hopes that they will one day get rich quickly through betting.
“Some young lads wrongly think that betting is the easiest way to get them quick cash. They do not want to earn their income the hard way through working,” he said.
He said betting activities were twisting the way of thinking in some youths, hence ruining both their education prospects and future ambitions in the long run.
The lecturer called for efforts from the society to educate youths and counsel them against the problem of gambling addiction.
“When a person loses money in sports betting, he or she suffers both economic and psychological torture, and this may negatively affect them in both their academic performance and general life,” he said.
Ntahosanzwe advised the government to closely regulate sports betting activities in the country, including ensuring that they do not open centres close to schools and universities and forbid underage people below 18 to play.
“The Gaming Board of Tanzania should relocate or shut down all sports betting centres operating in close proximity to residential neighbourhoods, univesities and schoolchildren for the greater interest of the public," he said.
Global phenomenon
Sports betting and other forms of gambling are becoming a phenomenon across Africa. Betting over which sports team might win has become a multimillion-dollar industry. By 2022, the global gambling market could be worth $635 billion, according to new findings by Dublin-based Research and Markets.
In Africa, countries like Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are also witnessing a huge expansion in sports betting and other forms of gambling. Lotteries, poker, sport bets, slot machines, casino games and online gambling are the new trend. Many entrepreneurs and foreign companies are pocketing millions of shillings thanks to the gambling boom.
In neighbouring Kenya, SportPesa is taking gamblers by storm. Young Kenyan football lovers are betting heavily, leading to a boom in gambling across the nation. SportPesa, which was launched in 2013, boasts over one million registered users who can easily bet using their smartphones.
SportPesa requires individuals to register as a member, with their phone numbers as their user name. Members can then start placing bets on the team they think will win in a particular match, or predict a draw before the game starts.
Chezafutaa, Betway, Betin, Elitebet, Betyetu, Justbet, Easybet, Lucky to You and KenyaSportsBet are some of the companies that allow gamblers to use mobile phones and redeem their prizes through mobile money transfers.
Proponents of gambling argue that the industry comes with some benefits to the economy. Gambling activities serve as a recreational enjoyment to the majority of youths who also get safe places to pass time. The government earns revenue from the centres, and for those without a solid source of livelihood, the wins could also count as benefits for the participants.
Reports estimate that SportPesa earns at least 40 million euros (about Sh95 billion) in revenue. The same can be said of betting companies in Ghana, which rake in millions in revenue.
Gambling in some African countries has attracted Chinese businesspeople who run some of the centres.
An influx of Chinese goods in many African countries has allowed the entry of cheap internet-enabled mobile phones and slot machines. In Kenya, one can purchase a slot machine for as little as 100 euros directly from the manufacturers. Some of these cheap slot machines are situated in the slums or in middle class neighbourhoods.
Except for South Africa, which is a more established gambling market, betting laws in most other African countries are quite recent, and regulation is still poor.
A new GeoPollsurbey released last week revealed that gambling is becoming popular among male African millennials (those born after 1980) in sub-Saharan Africa due to their high affinity to sports and the proliferation of local sports betting centres.
"There are knowledge gaps among African millennials on areas such as effective saving plans, wise investments and financial management," said part of the GeoPoll report, adding:
"When asked, many would like to better understand asset financing, entrepreneurship and investment opportunities available in their respective countries. This is proof that young Africans are striving for financial independence, prosperity and belief in their own ability to charter their own course."
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