Gambling business booms in Anambra

CHARLES OKEKE, AWKA

As the economic recession bites hard with the attendants consequences, gambling business and football betting are now experiencing boom era in various cities of Anambra State as the youths, both the young and older ones embrace them as routine way of getting income for sustenance.

Checks made in Awka and Onitsha, as well as in other key cities in Anambra, show that the habit of football betting among the  youths is now experiencing an upsurge as most shops hitherto used as super markets and cybercafes have been converted into gambling centres and betting shops, .where youths drawn from different age strata troop to every morning, spending their time and money betting on the coupons of various betting companies, like Baba Ijebu. Every day, the youths are thronging to the offices of agents of the book-makers to bet on matches being played across the world and win money.

It was learnt that the expanding habit of football betting and Lotto among the youths in Anambra were being fueled by the desire to kill frustration of earn income  and cushion the effects of the biting hardship in Nigeria. And as the fad spread with high intensity among the youths, not fewer than 1000 shops hitherto being  used as cybercafes, business centres and super markets have been converted to football betting shops, where the coupons of Sure-bet, betanja.com, Aja Predict, naira bet.com, Merrybet.com and 1960.com, among other betting franchises, are being routinely sold.

A key agent of Merrybet.com whose shop is situated along the Zik Avenue,Awka and a  bookmaker in Awka, Ifeanyi Igwilo, in an interview with our Correspondent, said the lowest amount for staking depends on the bookmakers in question, that is, the betting sites. He stated that some would ask for N100 as the minimum amount for staking with them and others will ask for as low as fifty naira.

Explaining the meaning of football betting and the types of staking involved, Mr Igwilo, the owner of Komet Internet Services said, football betting is basically a situation whereby one stakes some money like N100 with a bookmaker and expects to make a profit of say N200 from it.

According to Igwilo “It refers to predicting outcomes of games being played globally and in staking there is online staking, in which you log in to an online account to play your games and if you win, the bookmaker pays directly in to  your bank account, whereas in off-line staking, the stakers come in to the shop and request for certain games to play and thereafter gets a ticket or coupon with-which they will redeem the money they have won. In essence, the bookmaker pays the players/stakers directly through their agents”.

Igwilo who described Off-line betting as the most popular among the youths because the winners get direct cash payment from the agents, disclosed that Saturdays and Sundays attracts the highest volume of betting because these are the days the highest number of games/matches. He stated that although there is no limit to how much a staker can win from various leagues globally, the highest amount to be won in a game depends on the betting site  and the ability of the staker to predict matches accurately. “Some will tell you that the payout for the day will be N500,000.00 and others will go as far as offering N10 million per day”, Igwilo stressed.

Igwilo contended that the highest odds, a key element of football betting, refers mainly to the price at which a particular match or outcome is played. Hence, when Manchester United and Chelsea are playing and Manchester is offered an odd of 2.50,whereas Chelsea is offered an odd of 3.10, it simply means that the odds for Chelsea winning the match is higher and therefore when a staker backs Chelsea to win that particular match, he will multiply whatever amount  he wants to stake by the prescribed odd on offer or on display; in this case if Chelsea wins, whatever amount you backed Chelsea with will be multiplied by 3.10 and that will be what the person has won.

He predicted that the future of football betting is very bright in Anambra, because it has a large market potential and it is a legitimate business wherein an outcome in a match could either be home win, away win, draw, win or draw as the case may be.