Is rising youth unemployment in Ghana leading to an increase in betting?

Betting among youth in Ghana has seemingly reached unimaginable levels. It is common to see several young people converging at various betting centres to place bets on games. The increased betting among young people could be attributable to many things – including the proliferation of several betting companies in the country – but one thing that hasn’t received much attention is the role of the rising youth unemployment in the country.

In our ongoing series, we have explored the growing phenomenon of gambling among the youth in Ghana. In the first article, “The Youth and Gambling- a growing concern in Ghana,” we examined the burgeoning culture of gambling and its pervasive influence on young people across the nation. Our second article, “Gambling in Ghana: Examining its impact on the youth,” delved deeper, analyzing the profound impact of gambling on the youth and the societal implications it brings.

Now, in this third part, “Is rising youth unemployment in Ghana leading to an increase in betting?” we turn our focus to a critical yet underexplored factor: the role of rising youth unemployment in driving the surge of betting activities.

There is no denying the fact that jobs – well-paying ones – are very difficult to come by. The nation’s universities, colleges, and other training institutions churn out graduates in their thousands each year, only for them to stay home with nothing to do.

The issue is exacerbated by the seeming lack of an enabling business environment for private sector businesses to thrive so that they can employ most of these qualified graduates. So, does the lack of jobs play into the increased betting among youth in the country?

What is betting?

In its simplest form, betting is gambling money on the outcome of a race, game, or other unpredictable event. To bet, one needs to subscribe to a bookie, or a betting company, which normally gives odds on games, races, or other events, which bettors can accumulate and then place any amount of their choice, with a chance to win more than they have “invested”.

Why do people bet on games?

People bet for several reasons. Some place bets on their favourite players or stars, others engage in it for the fun of it and do not care if they win or lose; some, however, bet as a way of raising more money to support themselves. So, why does the young Ghanaian bet?

Some people also bet for social reasons because that’s what their friends do when they get together, or because it makes a social gathering more enjoyable. Many young people got introduced to betting because they followed their friends to betting centres to enjoy games and got introduced to the idea of betting.

Increased betting among youth in Ghana: what’s the cause?

There is no denying the fact that a lot of young people in Ghana have taken to betting these days, and a critical look at the reason these young people resort to betting will show you that most youths do it with the hope of winning bets to get money to take care of their needs.

A lot of the young people who converge at bet centres are either unemployed, earning very little from the menial jobs they do, or they don’t get paid promptly for the work they do. In this case, they spend the money they don’t have enough of, on games they hardly win, plunging them into more financial crises.

In other places, people bet for other reasons but not purposely to raise more money for themselves because they have no other option to do that–they do it just for entertainment and will not lose their heads when they do not win their bets. In any case, most of them are gainfully employed and betting on games is just a fun activity for them, although a few may also engage in it as their sole source of income but certainly not in the numbers we see among the youth in Ghana.

Looking at the major reason for increased betting among youth in Ghana–which is the fact that they use it as their only source of income, one cannot help but point to the rising youth unemployment in the country. For many of these people, if they are gainfully employed, and earning good money to cater to their needs and those of their families, there may not be a need for them to engage in betting, unless they too want to just engage in it for the fun of it like others do elsewhere.

Effects of betting on Ghanaian youth

Increased betting among youth in Ghana can lead to several consequences. Increased financial problems, stress, addiction, loss of property, poor school performance, feeling ashamed, relationship and family problems, and mental health issues, are some of the effects of betting among youth in Ghana.

These problems emanate from the frequent losses, as these young people keep losing their bet stakes to these betting companies. In chasing their losses, some of them resort to borrowing money from friends, parents, and spouses; some even sell off their properties and use it to gamble.

What can be done to curb increased betting among youth in Ghana?

With the rising youth unemployment partly, or entirely to blame for the increased betting among youth in Ghana, governments need to prioritize job creation in the country so that young people can find viable ways of earning money and not resort to betting as a source of income.

One can also blame the increased betting among youth in Ghana on the proliferation of betting companies in the country, but it is so because these betting companies have found a viable market in the country. If there are enough jobs for the youth, no one would resort to betting as their sole source of income, which will automatically reduce the rate at which these betting companies bring their operations into the country.

The government, as a way of curbing the increased betting among youth in Ghana, has resorted to introducing taxes on gains from betting. They also tax these betting companies in Ghana heavily, but these strategies have done very little to curb the situation, as many young people continue to bet, and more betting companies continue to operate in the country.

What the government has not looked at as a way of mitigating the situation, is to ensure that job creation for the youth becomes a priority, since the rising youth unemployment has largely contributed to the situation.