Feature: How sports betting is ruining lives in Nigeria (photos)

– Sports betting is trending in Nigeria with both young and adults involved in it

– English Premiership matches attracts more betting among rival fans

Naij.com sports features the rising trend of sports betting in Nigeria, how it continue to ruin lives and send youth into debt.

This has made some relocated because they could not pay creditors who were chasing them all over the city.

A youth on Saturday in a town called Offa, Kwara State Nigeria bet that the team he supports in England which is Chelsea would qualify for the next round in the FA cup, but sadly for him, Chelsea were sent out by Everton.

It was later understood that the youth used the money sent to him by his uncle to take care of his father who is down in the hospital to bet, and Naij.com Sports learnt that he was persuaded to play the game by his friend who just won twenty thousand naira.

A betting centre

The teenager after much persuasion threw in ten thousand naira for a factual game where computer will select teams that will play and the person that wants to play will select the teams he want and the game will begin on the TV.

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Naij.com Sports was told that the youth named Akande would have gone home with nothing less than one hundred thousand naira if he had won, but he lost as only a game among the ten games he predicted ended in a draw instead of a win.

The question now is where would this Akande get another money that he will take to the hospital, and what will he tell his uncle that sent the money to him for the treatment of his sick father.

The madness in the sports bet shops in Nigeria has become a serious issue as some students would even prefer betting with their school fees.

A betting collector

Football betting amongst the youths and adults has now become a serious and continuous exercise in the country as these people engage in this show virtually everyday.

Before football betting came into being, most youths and adults in Nigeria were into a bet game called “Baba Ijebu” in which they will pick ten numbers from one to hundred, and if any of the three numbers they have picked come out, it means such person has won, and payment will now be determined on the amount used to play.

But the emergence of the sports betting in Nigeria which is the prediction of games has now rubbished “Baba Ijebu” as many youths’ attention and focus has been diverted.

In a sports betting shop, a bill board will be shown where fixtures of games to be played that day that day will be displayed for people to start their permutations and betting.

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The most interesting part of this football bet show is that one can even predict the teams that will win the first corner, first goal, first throwing, first attempt at goal, first free kick, first yellow card, first red card and so on while some youths have no business with those mentioned than for them to predict the teams that will win.

Some youths mostly students in Nigeria have now turned the betting shop to be their classrooms as they would gather as early as 8am to start permutating the games of the day.

A chart used to determine matches outcome

In a situation where a student bets with his or her school fees, and such student lose, what will be his or her next action?

The first thing will definitely be tears rolling down his cheeks and the second thought would be how such student will steal or dupe anybody that comes his or her way.

It has been gathered that there is no day where games would not be played as youths would go far to predict games that will be played in far away Brazil.

Even civil servants and other people working in a financial institution would prefer going for sports betting after working hours as another means of getting income.

One of the director of a sports betting shop who would not want his photograph or video revealed said that an average sales of forty thousand naira is made daily.

“Since I opened my shop, I have never had any course to regret as people comes out everyday to play games, and most times they lose in which there would be enough gain for us.

“The fact is before someone would win ten thousand naira, we might have gain fifty thousand naira from others, and I think you can see that its a cool cash,” he said on the condition of anonymity.

Another shocking story heard in one of the sports betting shop is that of one Shina who won the sum of three million naira via football prediction, and he decided to buy a benz car which cost him 1.8 million naira,  unfortunately, he died the next day.

It was gathered that Shina took his friends to a beer parlour where they all got drunk, and on their way home, they had an accident in which only a lady survived among six people inside the car.

The sad part of this story is that Shina is the only child of his parent, and one would wonder how to console such parent.

The hazard of sports betting is more than its advantage because it has been learnt that no matter the amount a man get through this business, the person would use more than that to play another bet.

Some people would even prefer to sell their phones or belongings to play games as the madness of sports bet has overwhelmed them.

“I love to predict games, and have been winning, let me tell you this, I have only lost once and nothing will stop me from betting, not even you.” Akinade Ayobami told Naij.com sports.

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