On Nigeria’s Growing Bet Culture and Drive for Quick Fix

By Ebuka Onyekwelu

From city corners to village squares; from street to street, different betting companies and their outlets, which increases exponentially almost daily, are hustling the patronage of millions of young Nigerians with a promise of quick wealth. The expectation on the part of the players is high and tenacious, their desperation terrific, they want to “hit it big” with as little money as possible.

Everybody in Nigeria seems to want to make big money, with little or no money at all. Stories of how a certain bet player won big money the other day after he played with a few hundred Naira or maybe a few thousand but won millions, dot the place much to the admiration of bet enthusiast as they grin in the assurance that it could be them, the next time.

In most cases, not a single person can point to this person most so eagerly tell their success story of making it and winning big. But, they can point to a handful of people who have won a few thousands after playing with a few hundred. However, they can hardly point to anyone who has won big money, even as they all hope to win big someday. It’s a whole lot of outrageous hope on nothingness.

These days, it is convenient for young men to spend their entire day hanging out in a betting outlet, playing with as little money as they have, and expecting to win as many millions as it is possible for them to imagine. Even in remote villages, sights of bet shops abound and are usually filled by young men who are playing to win big like the other man who was said to have won millions the other day, which no one can identify. For the most part, betting has been mainstreamed such that saying you do not play bet, sounds like saying you do not want money. There is this shock and surprise that often grip bet players upon hearing that one does not play bet; maybe they cannot understand why one cannot “invest” a few hundreds of Naira to make millions. But I do not understand why I should make millions for “investing” only a few hundreds of Naira. What I do know is that when a few thousand people “invest” a few hundreds of Naira playing bet, it is the bet company that makes millions from their desperation and greed and not bet players reaping where they did not sow.

So many young Nigerians are so desperate and eager for a quick fix. Always on the lookout for quick money and fast solutions, that they easily become victims of their own desperation and greed. For most of these people, there is little or no time at all for a second careful look at their choices and commitments in a frantic bid to make money. The mere unconfirmed story of how an unnamed someone in an unnamed somewhere, played with a small amount but won big the other time is all that is needed to convince most Nigerian youths to besiege bet centers which are now some of the most common shop one can find anywhere, with many more springing up like grass following the first rainfall after the dry season.

Betting is the new outbreak in town dwarfing the dreams and sensible aspirations of young people and replacing them expediently with imagined quick fortune expected to come from bet; an exercise designed by the owners to profit them (the owners). Betting companies are designed exclusively for the profit of the owners and only as part of the business strategy, for the accidental profitability of a very few players. This is the reality and fact of the matter and this; I suppose, is not entirely hidden to bet players. Notwithstanding, their undying love for a quick fix is stronger and has the upper hand. The mere fact that bet shops not only dot every nook and cranny of virtually all Nigerian cities and villages, but new bet companies keep springing up in addition, says a lot about the amount of money, energy, and patronage these bet companies gain from young Nigerians.

From one street corner to another street corner, able-bodied young men cluster in front of a monitor frantically checking to see if their big break has finally arrived. From spending a few hundred Naira, they spend a few thousand and more in a bid to recover the one they already spent and even spend more money trying to win big or at least win some money, at all. With a comforting self-assurance that they are going to win one day, they keep playing and keep investing in a charade. Typically, many scammers are catching in on the betting culture with a promise of a “sure odds”.

On Facebook, in particular, many of these scammers, promise gamblers the magic wand numbers they needed to play with and win, needless to say, that many gamblers are falling for it. It’s a whole lot of scam and sham. A massive industry of swindle fanned by the embers of desperation and patronage of unemployed, underemployed, and even working-class and businessmen and women, drawn mostly from the youth population. The situation is a most telling expose- on the excessive fixation by most Nigerians on a magical and abrupt solution to problems and to poverty or need for money. The rising bet culture is hinged on the established imagery of a quick fix for every problem and also the assumption that money is the answer to everything and that money can be acquired by any means possible including using two hundred Naira to win One hundred thousand Naira or something like that, even expecting to beat a betting system which is designed by the owners for their exclusive profitability, to its own game.

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The reality, however, is that there are no quick fixes. No sustainable shortcuts and no sustainable wealth from playing bet. The assumption by most young Nigerians that they will suddenly make it big is derisory, even though they hold so dear to such delusion. Their desperation and wild expectation of catching out millions from bet companies with a few thousand is ludicrous and only but a testament to perhaps something more deeply rooted in the minds of those Nigerians. With little or no work at all, most Nigerians want to live large. With or without a job, they want to drive big cars and enjoy life. Behind the craze for quick money and quick fix are these undying fanatically overwhelming resolve to live in pageantry at any and all cost.

At the root of Nigeria’s decaying social norms and morally depraved citizens with tendencies for extreme dissipation at the cost of public funds, public good, and wellbeing, is their craving to live in opulence real or imagined. This, they generally believe is a problem money can solve. Nigeria’s bet culture is not only about trying to exploit bet companies in vain but Nigerians generally often trying to take advantage of any situation and attempting to make money out of it, for their own enjoyment, not minding the damage it may cause at a later time. To fix Nigeria, the prevalent bet culture and desperation for quick fixes must be addressed as fundamental negatives against Nigeria’s potential for progress.

Also, more attention must be given to internalizing the import of process and growth curve in personal and community success.