By: Mohamed Dauda Kamara
Online Betting, a rapid stride of digitalized system in Sierra Leone, appears to be a new string of ‘addictive’ hope for youths, creating a new path for young people to evade poverty.
Aside youths, online betting has grown prominence among the country’s male population, especially with the advent of mobile payments like Orange Money, AfriMoney and Qmoney, making online betting even more accessible and flexible.
Samuel Moseray, a sophomore at Fourah Bay College, is in love with online betting in a bid stave off despair, playing weekly with the hope of winning. Even if Samuel does not win frequently, but the thrills of his ‘once-in-a-while’ wins, have not dashed his hopes from betting weekly. “Well, placing my bet and expecting to win gives me hope. One day that hope maybe used to have a shortcut towards achieving my dreams,” he said. He bets at least NLE 50 a week, and makes NLE 1000 profit as his highest win.
And Francis Emmanuel Abdulai, a staunch online bettor, believes that betting online is safer and credible because it makes instant payment when he wins. Unlike some youths who are addicted to betting, Francis says he only bets when he has money, and his highest bet has been NLE 200, which he lost in an unexpected defeat when one of his teams lost a match. Online betting is more akin to football among young people, prompting a glitch of anxiety, especially for football-loving fans.
In the 2024 Finance Act, the Sierra Leonean government levied a 10% increment on betting companies in the country, without much consideration on its legal impediments.
Betting Companies, in particular provide an attractive revenue to the government, yet with fewer attempts to prevent life-altering debts and mental health impacts. However, there are fewer stories of life-changing wins by bettors, but much of these stories have come with heartbreaks when they couldn’t get a big win. There are several online betting companies in Sierra Leone, but the most prominent are the Elephant Bet, BetSalone,1XBet, Mercury, MrXbet, and Fezbet. Betting companies in Sierra Leone have invested heavily in advertising, triggering their ads on websites aimed at luring young bettors. In the Sub-Saharan Africa, GSMA Intelligence reveals that online and sport betting are making inroads among the Sub-Saharan population with a staggering 71% increment between 2017 and 2020Despite this, many have claimed that online betting creates employment for people, but however have some adverse effects that have not been thoroughly examined.
A research paper, published by Innovation Social Sciences and Economic Review on 27th July, 2024, revealed that ‘online betting negatively impacts social functioning of male breadwinners in Africa families. In sum, Online betting has undoubtedly become a new string of hope for youths in Sierra Leone and the world in general.
