Long before Arsenal, Manchester, PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona, we quietly supported our Accra Great Olympics, Dawu Youngsters, Abusua Dwarfs and Hearts plus Kotoko.
Then they (Europeans buoyed by satellite TV) brought us football, boys latched onto it like a drug, many got addicted and badly hooked. Those are the ones that curse and insult professionals for performances.
Me, I’m an Arsenal fan to boot, nobody will convince me otherwise, it’s either Arsenal or Arsenal. Rooted as ever like the pyramids of Egypt. But I have long abandoned abusing the club or its paid assigns for whatever reason. I have better issues in which to emotionally invest.
LEGALIZED GAMBLING AS A MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD
Permit me to share paragraphs from: "The Light of the Lights: Islamic Religious Studies," a book authored by a childhood friend, Abdul Manan Yusif. In comparing the pre-Islamic period of ignorance and vice (gambling, infanticide, tribal wars et. al.) to current times he wrote on gambling:
“Gambling is officially institutionalized in some states including Ghana. The Ghanaian government has an agency in charge of lottery (National Lottery Authority) which organizes various forms of gambling on vehalf of the government.
“There are many kiosks stating lotto positioned at every vantage point of the country staking lotto on behalf of the government.
"Many people depend on gambling as a means of livelihood and today, the number of gambling institutions like my bet, premier bet, super bet among others are increasing in the country.” Safe to say, most of these many people are young men who love football, specifically European football.
THE LOVE FOR EURO FOOTBALL AND GAMBLING UPSURGE
I know that as a scientific fact because my research at the Ghana Institute of Journalism was on the heightened interest of the youth in European Football – A case study of St. Thomas Aquinas Senior High School.
The results showed that young people had fallen in love with football made overseas but back then, the research will not factor in the betting aspect, it had yet to hit town.
Roll on the years, these betting agencies continue to spring up faster than mushroom in the rainy season. With television with cable connection beaming matches as young people line up buying tickets to bet on their teams – most of them to also bet against other teams.
So in January 2019, Uganda president Yoweri Museveni ordered a progressive phasing out of soccer betting and gambling to save the youth from idleness and seeking shortcuts to making money, how one wishes it’d have been in Ghana.
But not to go too far, the menace seems to be spreading fast. Over in Congo Republic, the situation is no different. These betting canters continue to spring up with such speed that at some point it makes one cringe.
LOTTERY DRAW: THE CLOSEST WE CAME TO GAMBLING
Growing up, a rather liberal television routine meant that we watched any and everything especially on GTV. Way back, the closest we came to gambling was the Saturday afternoon national lottery draw.
Its famed advert of the lotto doctor still rings in my head. When a wife asked the husband why the lotto doctor was not rich, he replied: “he is a good Samaritan, that’s all.” Then came the bearded man exclaiming “Allah, na chi!” to wit “I swear, I have won.”
Then there was the spinning wheel and the call for ordinary people to press a button to draw the five “lucky” numbers. We watched the draw because of musical interlude. Later we tried remembering the numbers when they were announced after the main news on GTV.
Gambling back then was considered for the older persons who took hours sitting under trees and in kiosks with lotto newspapers that defied any arithmetic or calculus, a desert of numbers yet these men claim to be solving lotto – a game of chance oooo.
But thanks to football, today it is young people who crowd betting centers amid the sweltering heat in some of these places cursing at players and coaches, swearing at each other awaiting if the odds across the oceans will favour them.
What we effectively have is a gamble bubble that we must work to burst whilst lessening the spread and damage it has accumulated in it over the last few years. Something must be done before we are all done.
Jumadas Thaanii 1, 1440 H = February 6, 2018
Then they (Europeans buoyed by satellite TV) brought us football, boys latched onto it like a drug, many got addicted and badly hooked. Those are the ones that curse and insult professionals for performances.
Me, I’m an Arsenal fan to boot, nobody will convince me otherwise, it’s either Arsenal or Arsenal. Rooted as ever like the pyramids of Egypt. But I have long abandoned abusing the club or its paid assigns for whatever reason. I have better issues in which to emotionally invest.
LEGALIZED GAMBLING AS A MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD
Permit me to share paragraphs from: "The Light of the Lights: Islamic Religious Studies," a book authored by a childhood friend, Abdul Manan Yusif. In comparing the pre-Islamic period of ignorance and vice (gambling, infanticide, tribal wars et. al.) to current times he wrote on gambling:
“Gambling is officially institutionalized in some states including Ghana. The Ghanaian government has an agency in charge of lottery (National Lottery Authority) which organizes various forms of gambling on vehalf of the government.
“There are many kiosks stating lotto positioned at every vantage point of the country staking lotto on behalf of the government.
"Many people depend on gambling as a means of livelihood and today, the number of gambling institutions like my bet, premier bet, super bet among others are increasing in the country.” Safe to say, most of these many people are young men who love football, specifically European football.
THE LOVE FOR EURO FOOTBALL AND GAMBLING UPSURGE
I know that as a scientific fact because my research at the Ghana Institute of Journalism was on the heightened interest of the youth in European Football – A case study of St. Thomas Aquinas Senior High School.
The results showed that young people had fallen in love with football made overseas but back then, the research will not factor in the betting aspect, it had yet to hit town.
Roll on the years, these betting agencies continue to spring up faster than mushroom in the rainy season. With television with cable connection beaming matches as young people line up buying tickets to bet on their teams – most of them to also bet against other teams.
So in January 2019, Uganda president Yoweri Museveni ordered a progressive phasing out of soccer betting and gambling to save the youth from idleness and seeking shortcuts to making money, how one wishes it’d have been in Ghana.
But not to go too far, the menace seems to be spreading fast. Over in Congo Republic, the situation is no different. These betting canters continue to spring up with such speed that at some point it makes one cringe.
LOTTERY DRAW: THE CLOSEST WE CAME TO GAMBLING
Growing up, a rather liberal television routine meant that we watched any and everything especially on GTV. Way back, the closest we came to gambling was the Saturday afternoon national lottery draw.
Its famed advert of the lotto doctor still rings in my head. When a wife asked the husband why the lotto doctor was not rich, he replied: “he is a good Samaritan, that’s all.” Then came the bearded man exclaiming “Allah, na chi!” to wit “I swear, I have won.”
Then there was the spinning wheel and the call for ordinary people to press a button to draw the five “lucky” numbers. We watched the draw because of musical interlude. Later we tried remembering the numbers when they were announced after the main news on GTV.
Gambling back then was considered for the older persons who took hours sitting under trees and in kiosks with lotto newspapers that defied any arithmetic or calculus, a desert of numbers yet these men claim to be solving lotto – a game of chance oooo.
But thanks to football, today it is young people who crowd betting centers amid the sweltering heat in some of these places cursing at players and coaches, swearing at each other awaiting if the odds across the oceans will favour them.
What we effectively have is a gamble bubble that we must work to burst whilst lessening the spread and damage it has accumulated in it over the last few years. Something must be done before we are all done.
Jumadas Thaanii 1, 1440 H = February 6, 2018
