OPINION: We need national dialogue on dangers of betting
There is this one lady I used to know who was a great hard worker, selling food (mama ntilie) to take care of her family. She used to wake up at 4am to prepare breakfast for sale and sleep very late, after a hard and tiring job- all to be able to feed and educate her children.
Unfortunately, her husband is addicted to gambling and alcohol. The man of the house is unable to maintain a job anywhere or do any business because of the two problems. The man, used to steal money from the wife, without a care if it’s for the school fees or what. Apart from not helping with any household chores or providing anything, he had to be taken care of by the long suffering wife.
The number of women suffering out of men’s addictions to betting, alcohol, drugs, etc is many. I am not saying that women do not do those vices.
But in my mind, I have wives and mothers, who run this nation at the household level, how they suffer after their loved ones- husbands or children, are destroyed slowly by gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc. Their sad stories can fill a thousand pages.
It’s in that context that sometime back I wrote that there is a need for Tanzania to have more control on betting crazy. I argued that, every gambling advert should have a very clear disclaimer, that, participants can loses their hard earned cash.
Today, almost every major and credible TV, radio station, and journalists (who millions of Tanzanians have faith to tell the truth), numerous times a day have adverts luring the masses to participate in gambling escapades so as to make easy money.
The way the gambling adverts are formulated, you would think, betting is a form of getting credible income. They never disclose the fact that, most of those who bet, they lose their hard earned cash.
The betting firms promise quick money or riches- while in essence it is one of the surest paths to increased poverty for many. But in this age of misinformation, it’s difficult for the masses to tell between the lie and truth.
Talk to any gambler-- most will say, they have lost so much money, but vows to continue gambling, in the faith that, one day, they will win big money.
The gambling craze, is a huge problem in East Africa such that, recently when President Yoweri Museveni ordered his government “to stop issuing or renewing licenses for sports betting firms operating in Uganda, it was huge online news across the region. Many people in the social media supported him. I believe his action will save many young people from addiction and loss of income.
A paper by Sally M. Gainsbury titled Online Gambling Addiction: the Relationship Between Internet Gambling and Disordered Gambling makes it clear that the change in gambling environment from land-based gambling to internet-based, has availed it to more people.
This in turn has also resulted in excessive gambling, as many people have mobile phones and other internet enabled devices - with internet betting can be placed anytime, anywhere, any day, so long as there is an internet connection or mobile connection. Sally’s finding note that“…online gamblers, particularly those experiencing problems, are more likely to report disruption to their sleep and eating patterns than land-based gamblers.”
In many parts of the world people with gambling addiction also abuse drugs and alcohol. People who gamble and lose (the majority) sometimes feel remorse and to forget their pain and loss they turn to alcohol and drugs. Traditional casinos have strived because after people get “high” with alcohol, they lower, their guards, and they bet more.
We need to have a sober national conversation about gambling.
