Bukhosi Dube lost his job with the National Railways of Zimbabwe, and he said he had no choice but to make gambling his new occupation, according to RadioVOP.
Employment is hard to come by in Bulawayo, once the country’s industrial hub.
Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is estimated at more than 90 percent. It increased in the past year when hundreds of companies shut down.
Gambling takes many forms including poker games, slot machines, dice, cards, coin tossing, bingo and lotteries. But it’s sports betting that seems to have taken Bulawayo by storm.
There’s been a surge in the number of gambling shops as profits increase, RadioVOP reported. Critics point out the highly addictive nature of the pastime.
Retail outlets have joined the gambling industry, albeit in a subtle way, introducing promotions that offer prizes. People enter hoping to win cars, groceries and furniture, gadgets or cash.
The phenomenon is especially evident among the city’s youth, who struggle to support themselves and their families in a shrinking economy compounded by cash shortages, according to RadioVOP.
A visit to gambling outlets in Bulawayo by a RadioVOP crew showed that people as young as 15 eke out a living gambling.
In Uganda’s capital, more than 120 students have dropped out of school in the last three months after gambling away their tuition fees, according to TheAfricaReport.
“They think they can double the tuition money given to them by their parents if they bet, but in most cases they lose,” said Francis Magaya, an officer at Uganda’s education ministry. Some sports betting companies allow underage children to bet.
Given the right regulatory framework, gambling has huge potential to thrive in Sub-Saharan Africa with its growing youthful population, according to the WrB Africa.
“They have an almost unrivaled demand for lottery based games and more recently a large boom in interest for European football amongst other sports which has sparked the sports book industry,” according to the WrB Africa website.
WrB stands for World Regulatory Briefings — an organization that offers events focused on gambling in emerging markets. Its goal is to help the players in new markets prepare for the regulatory changes needed to survive and thrive in the gambling sector.
A WrB Africa summit is scheduled April 11-12 at the Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Nigeria, as part of the WrB Series run by U.K.-based event organizer Clarion Events. It will be the first-ever summit dedicated to exploring opportunities in emerging markets.
At the summit, executive-level conferences will deliver business information for international and local gambling operators and regulators, helping them to benchmark strategies and market entry into current and future iGaming jurisdictions.
International gaming giants such as Bet 365, Mybet and Mr Green do business in the Sub-Saharan region and are prospering, according to WrB Africa.
WrB Africa seeks to “uncover a trading environment for the gaming sector where sound business sense prevails,” according Curtis Roach, a producer at Clarion.
“This is part of the reason why we are organising WrB Africa,” Roach said at the company website. “This will be a high-level event bringing together key industry stakeholders including top suppliers, operators and regulators from the high-growth markets including Kenya and Uganda, who are actually on the World Bank’s top 10 list of most improved for doing business this year. It will be a rare opportunity to not only witness the unparalleled progress being made in this industry, but to find out how you can become part of it.”
Delegates will get to hear from more than 30 organisations and learn from companies based in East, West and Central Africa, in addition to regulators, PCTech reported.
The speaker line-up includes a keynote speech by Lanre Gbajabiamila, CEO of the Lagos State Lottery Board.
Other speakers include John Kamara, director of Global Gaming Africa; Tarimba Abbas, director general of Tanzania Gaming Board; Edward Lalumbe, COO of the Gauteng Gambling Board and Matthias Jacek Wojdyla, head of international affairs at FIFA.
Gbajabiamila said he’s optimistic about the continued growth of gambling in Nigeria, driven by technology and the public appetite for sport, PCTech reported.
“The Nigerian gaming industry is an evolving one and gradually expanding,” Gbajabiamila said. “More states and individuals are becoming more aware of the opportunities that exist in the industry in terms of entertainment, revenue and employment,”
Rory Credland, event director, said, “It will be fantastic to bring together so many people from across the globe to talk about responsible gambling and how we can help to create a sustainable future for one of the gaming industry’s high-potential markets.”
Africa has some hurdles that will need to be addressed but this should not deter investors in African gambling from achieving maximum yield on future investments, Roach said.
“Africa is poised to be the new frontier for investors but there will most likely be some risk involved, just like all things that reward,” he said.
