Written by Prince Collins | From How We Made it in Africa

Several international sports betting companies have set up shop in Liberia. Unemployed young people gather at these betting parlors to gamble on things like televised soccer matches. Some say it is a good source of income and occupation, but others are not so sure.

Here at this betting parlor in Monrovia run by the company Winner’s Incorporated, young men watch soccer matches on flat screen TVs. They place bets and wait for the results.

The company’s marketing manager, Randall Kaybee, said sports betting is “transforming the lives of Liberians” for just a few LD, or Liberian dollars, per bet.

“As you just enter my office, as you can see from this evidence. This is a ticket. Somebody bet 50 LD and winning 233,275 LD,” said Kaybee.

Lucrative, legal lure

Fifty Liberian dollars is about 60 cents in US currency. That pay-out Kaybee quoted is just over $2,700. He said winnings can be as much as five times that.

Thirty-seven-year-old Harris Kokeh has a college degree but could not find a job, so he started betting. “I really been living by it. It has been helping me a lot. The last time I won about 700 US dollars. It was a great help to me,” he said.

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