Nigeria is currently experiencing its worst economic downturn in years leading to widespread hardship, hunger and anger across the country. The cost of living in the country keeps skyrocketing on a daily basis; cost of groceries has tripled compared to years back. A litre of petrol now cost three times more than it was before the incumbent administration came on board. And there are also hikes in electricity and telecommunication tariffs.
In tough economic times, people mostly face financial strain which can lead to desperation; such desperation can push people to go into gambling because of the possibility of quick financial gains. With the rising cost of living, stagnant wages, gambling may seem like an attractive way to quickly escape financial pressures. The possibility of also wanting to break out of poverty during economic difficulties lures bettors to stake more possibly increasing staking power which in turn will cause revenue surge for the gambling industry.
Although inflation which is the average rate at which prices go up, inflation has soared in many countries globally, it rose to 34.80% in December 2024 but later dropped to 24.48% in January 2025. Despite the drop it is not reflective on prices of things in various sectors in the country. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) clarified that the decline in the rebased inflation rate does not reflect a decrease in the general price level.
Furthermore, the minimum wage still remains the same since 2019 which was set at 30,000, looking at the current exchange rate that 19.53 dollars and 15.07 pounds respectively. The harsh reality is that with the current wages, Nigerians can barely survive with the continuous rise of cost of living. These tragic events will only breed anger, frustration and possibly increase in crime rate. For those that want to seek for legal alternative ways to make money aside their source of income, this is where sports betting come in handy.
Gaming Operators also pounce on the hardship with promos, aggressive advertisement, and free-bets for instance one of the leading bookmakers in Nigeria Sportybet gives its customers a certain amount weekly tagged “sporty loyalty” as reward for their patronage. All these is being done to ensure customers keeps coming back. All these can be addictive as certain bettors are already in debt while some still take loans to keep on staking believing they can have a “huge win” to recover their losses. More needs to be done on this aspect to promote responsible gambling to curb addition.
On the flip side, the hardship can also be a disadvantage for the gaming industry whereby bettors will barely have disposable income to stake with. With the financial risk involved sports betting would not be top priority compared to essentials and basic needs like groceries, accommodation, just to mention a few would come first. The prospect of losing money when finances are hard to come by is enough to deter bettors from getting involved in any form of gambling.
Conclusively, there are two side of the coin to a country’s financial hardship in terms of sports betting, it could either push hardcore bettors or addicts that see it as source of income to get more involved or while it could also lead to lesser patronage hence causing decline in revenue for the gaming industry. Operators can also stay afloat in business by given out freebies, rewarding frequent customers and offering certain rewards to long time bettors if they fund their accounts; these would help customers to continually stick to their betting brands.
