For some people, gambling has to be one of the worst things they’d ever get involved in. It’s that vice that the moment they step their foot into it, things only get worse from then on, but unfortunately, they would never be able to pull away. The number of people who are addicted to betting is extremely high. When I think about it, it might even have more people addicted than other vices because of the promise of monetary reward.
I’ve known about betting since I was very young. From sports betting to virtual betting, even the popular dog betting. Aja n sare, owo n jono!, is a Yoruba phrase popularly used to describe the dog race and it simply means “as the dog is running, your money is burning!”
Back when I was in senior secondary school, many of my friends were already deep into betting. I think one of the reasons I never ventured into sports betting was that I was never interested in sports to begin with. I don’t play football, neither do I watch it. I don’t have a favorite football club and I sure as hell don’t care who wins the cup. The only ones I bother myself to watch are National matches and Nigeria must be playing.
Now, it seems that all fans of football are also into sports betting. Even ladies who are fans of the game end up betting, it’s now like a way of life for so many people. When I was in the Polytechnic, I had a close friend who was a chronic addict. He was always betting, to the point that he began to borrow from loan apps just to fund his account. It was as if he was always waiting for the next streak, hoping that the next game would win.
Sadly, that was never the case. The platform showed him premium shege because he never won. He was forced to sell just about every piece of furniture he had in his small room, and still, the addiction didn’t leave him. Another person once talked to me about how he has always been trying to stop, but he was finding it so hard. When he makes the conscious decision to stop, some random dude online would bring a betting code and just like that, his body would be itching to place another bet.
Literally, everyone in my life that bets, they’ve warned me to stay clear of all betting platforms. They know that once you step in, it’s like a vortex that simply sucks you in, and getting out would be hard.
So then, should betting be made illegal? A lot of addictions are actually not illegal, because the government has no right to tell an individual what to do. Personally, I feel that the reason hard drugs are illegal is because when they’re abused, they pose a threat to people around them. Also, the sale of such drugs always incites violence that puts everyone in the neighborhood at risk. This is not the case with betting, alcohol, porn and whatnot.
This is why even though an individual is basically destroying their lives with such an addiction, the government can’t do anything about it. But then, do I feel it should be banned? Yeah, it still has to be banned because it has done way too much damage. Maybe a limit should be placed on how much a person can use to bet every year and once a person reaches that limit, they can’t anymore. If they still try to bet, it could mean jail time for them.
Betting is by choice, no one forces you to place a bet, just as no one forces you to get greedy and keep searching for more of that money! Maybe a little bit of discipline will go a long way. I know that there are people who get their daily bread from betting, but not everyone is that lucky. We can only hope that in time, people will learn to be smarter when it comes to placing bets.
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