Nigeria’s House of Representatives is facing blowback from its gaming sector for its determination to prohibit sports betting, Yogonet reported February 19. About 60 million Nigerians between 18 and 40 make sports bets, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
More than 65 million actively make sports wagers, spending about $15 a day on average or about $356 billion a year.
The House adopted the resolution on February 15. Critics of sports betting say weak regulations are causing a rising mental health problem.
Rep. Kelechi Nwogu, who proposed the bill, said gambling addiction has led to broken relationships, financial problems, legal issues and loss of employment. “Betting has given rise to increased crime rate and eventual suicide,” he said. He called for resisting the negative social impact of the lottery and participation by minors.
His resolution calls on the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation to conduct a public awareness campaign on the negatives of young people making sports bets. The resolution also calls for a hearing on the harmful effects of sports betting by the Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs and report back in a month.
These actions have prompted an unnamed staffer of SportyBet to tell The Punch that such a move will choke the sports betting industry, which employs many.
The anonymous staffer said, “It is ridiculous. This government is confused. In a country where people are struggling to make ends meet, they want to crush the masses with another policy that will render more people jobless. It is very insensitive.”
Punter and government critic Emmanuel Abraham told The Punch that the government wants to divert attention from the economy, “I’m saying it is a Trojan horse to deviate public attention from the bad decisions they have made which has driven the country off a cliff. Sports betting isn’t the problem. As much as it could be addictive, so are other things like opioids, sex, alcohol, etc.”
He added, “If you go to the hospital, and they give you morphine to numb pain. Isn’t morphine addictive? Are they going to ban that too?”
