Mental health and psychology experts have established facts that substance abuse, family history and early exposure to betting are some of the factors that influence addictive gambling in Nigeria. But in recent times the widespread of hard drugs among the teeming Nigerian youth is alarming which has been a cause of concern leading to a national issue tag—the state of emergency on drug abuse in Nigeria.
The high rate of these substances has negatively impacted the economy. It has been fueling gambling addiction leading to mind-blowing numbers with over 75 million Nigerians this has led to a major concern for stakeholders in the industry.
Interestingly the proliferation of these hard drugs on the streets of Nigeria leading to addiction to the influx of sports betting resulted in ludomania (a gambling addiction), which is an urge to gamble continuously, despite the negative effects of excessive gambling. As it might be known gambling addiction affects people’s quality of life, causing them to fritter away money meant for significant purposes like having a good meal, school fees and others.
However, a report from mental health and psychology experts reported that the recent rise in addiction to betting applications and sites could lead to an increase in mental illnesses in the country.
Regarding the era we are in now, called the Genz, where internet accessibility smartphone devices, and hard drugs are accessible easily by these generations, the tendency to gamble on different betting platforms is evident. According to data published by Google in 2023 stating the most visited sites in Nigeria, after pornography sites, the next on the list is betting sites.
Even though 80% of the youth in Nigeria have internet access and about 62% have access to smartphones, which makes it easier for punters to be able to visit different sports betting sites to bet easily in their comfort zone, which they can be under the influence of psychoactive substances hard drugs, that gives them an imaginary large amount of money that can be won with little cash at hand. The alarming rate of, gambling especially sports betting has become more popular in Nigeria. Coupled with the economic situation that has seen old and young embrace sports betting activities.
As mentioned earlier family history, gene transfer and early exposure to certain things: as we all know there’s a high tendency of offspring to inherit certain characteristics of their parents if not 90 per cent, 98percent of the parental characteristics are being transferred to their children, and if a child is being exposed at the early age to drugs and betting, there’s a high tendency of such child to be addicted to drugs and gambling which call for concern the next generation we are breading.
As of 2021, research carried out on the overview of gambling in Nigeria by a consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer at the university Imo State University Owerri, Chinyere Aguocha, the overview shows that about 57.2per cent of school-age children has gambled tested alcohol at least once in their lifetime.
The report also stated 85 per cent of school children have tested alcohol 77.6 percent of them have gambled in the last three years, and 58.3 per cent of these school-age children have unrestrained access to alcohol and gambling sites. School-age children of the background of alcoholic addictive parents have a high tendency to be addictive too, genetically, such traits are being transferred to them, while many emulate the characters, they witnessed their parents doing while growing up.
Understandably, gambling addictions and hard drug use work interchangeably, in reality, substance use, alcohol and gambling are common professional.
In conclusion, immersive measures should be carried out by stakeholders to curb drug availability in the local market governments and parents to regulate and educate school-age children on alcohol and gambling. Parents should adopt the role of being a modest role model.
