Dealing with Gambling Match-Fixing and connected social issues in Kenya.

Match-fixing is a rampant vice that is quickly destroying sportsmanship.  Recently, the international football governing body, FIFA, acknowledged it was currently investigating a Harambee Stars player. His ‘sin’: participation in match-fixing. 

Failure to halt match-fixing, will always leave the questions: ‘did we really win?’ or ‘did we really lose?’. Where is the entertainment in that? Dealing with match-fixing requires understanding why it persists, especially as a recluse of cartels.

Online betting

An article in the Daily Nation by Vincent Opiyo expounded on how cartels benefit from match-fixing. They benefit mostly due to their involvement with or ownership of betting firms. The more the people lose bets as a result of fixed matches, the more money they make. 

Worse still, the more the gamblers lose, the higher the urge to bet even more.  In part, this is due to the promise of heaven-on-earth wins in daily advertisements.

To deal with match-fixing, we must deal with betting and its support systems.In Kenya, the betting craze has reached to levels that could not be imagined before. This is especially so among the youth. 76% to be precise. The highest in Africa. 

This is according to an 18^th May 2018 article by Rading Biko, on the Standard. Victor Odundo’s Business Daily article on the 25^th April 2018 further paints the picture: by 2018, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa had contributed to make their collective gambling industry worth $37 billion.

Even jokes in social media suggest ‘you cannot advise’ a person at the verge of making a bet.

Unnoticed, gambling is quickly killing creativity among the Kenyan youth. “…I’m tired of working hard, I just want to win the bet, travel the world and do yoga,” read a tweet from a ‘frustrated’ Kenyan. Such a comment could be in part because, few individuals have gone on to win in excesses of two hundred million shillings from betting, all at once.

The highest paying salary in Kenya is about ten million shillings. This is considered by most as the gold standard. However, it is ‘reserved’ for very few individuals. This means that even salaries cannot match the promise of two hundred million shillings or more, all at once. 

Therefore, if one can make in excess of two hundred million shillings all at once by ‘simply’ gambling, what then is the use for the eight-to-five lifestyle or even entrepreneurship?

Vicious bet-lose-bet again cycle

So, in order to make super normal ‘profits’, match-fixing cartels have willingly and gladly pushed unsuspecting victims into a vicious cycle: ‘bet-lose-bet again’. 

As if not enough, most of the betting companies here in Africa are not even resident African companies. They are foreign owned. This means that a part from minimal government taxes, their proceeds end up in other economies of the world. 

That is ‘legalized’ daylight robbery of hard-earned African money. This is without even mentioning the social burdens, such as gambling addiction, which they leave behind for the resident taxpayers to bear.

In other jurisdictions such as Canada, all proceeds from betting go to government. Some of it is then reinvested into the economy – yes, gambling does have its advantages. A considerable chunk of the remainder then goes to support systems that deal with social repercussions of gambling. Not to say that this is the solution for Africa, but it could be a potential avenue for consideration.

It has often been said, “to deal with current problems, we must look to the past for answers”. Match-fixing might be far more recent, but gambling did not start yesterday. It has been with us from generation to generation since time immemorial.

One could not carry all their money to the gambling table

In the past, no matter how much money or possessions one had, they could not carry it all to the gambling table. As much as there were many gamblers, the gambling den could only accommodate a certain number at a time.

Applying those today, in the age of online betting, would mean the following: one, one can only participate in a bet with a specified amount of money – no more, no less. It should as well be an amount necessarily above the international poverty line. 

For example, as at now, according to the world bank, the amount should be above 1.90 US dollars, an equivalent of roughly 200 shillings. This means that betting would then be limited to a specific market niche within the society. 

Specifically, a customer base that can ‘really’ afford to possibly lose 200 shillings. This would also serve to protect those who can afford to lose that kind of money from the possible loss of gambling with more than 200 shillings. 

This can even be better if a limit were to be put on the number of times one can place a bet in a day, whether collectively across all the betting sites or per individual site.

Plight of huge financial loss due to addictive gambling

Two, in line with the number of people that a gambling den could hold in the past, there could also be a strict enforcement on the number of people who can bet in either of the betting sites, per day. This number could be based on a percentage of the population living above the poverty line, the ‘rich’, within the specific country in question. This would also be in conjunction with a factor of the total possible collective and simultaneous financial loss of the rich, that presents the least economic risk to that country.

For example, in Kenya, according to the world bank, the percentage could be anywhere between 1-100 of the 58% who live above the international poverty line. This would of course be multiplied by that factor as stated above. For this discussion, we could work with a result total of 1% which translates to 450, 000 bettors. This could be enforced either in a blanket manner, meaning a collective total of the 1% across all the betting companies, or an equivalent of 1% each for the betting companies, per day.

This, in addition to preventing massive and simultaneous financial loss on the part of African citizens, would also enable relevant authorities to predict potential earnings and therefore, expected tax returns of each and every betting company. Also, if the authorities can predict the potential earnings, then the avenues for money laundering will have been reduced. This is because any super normal earning above the expected range could now easily be flagged.

Betting with a pre-specified amount of money, a limited number of the times one can bet as well as a limited number of people who can bet, will make super-normal individual bet earnings a thing of the past. This would then work well to bring back creativity, especially among the youth in Africa.

That stated, we must also consider modern based solutions aside from those of the past.

In Kenya, telecom companies such as Safaricom are legally required to contribute 1% of their respective gross earnings to the Communications Service Fund (CSF). This fund is run by the regulator, the Communications Authority (CA). This is meant for various communications development and innovation related initiatives. These funds have gone on to do great work, such as connecting far flung areas in Kenya, to the national communications grid.

Need for betting companies to contribute to a collective kitty

Therefore, in addition to taxation, betting companies must also be legally subjected to contribute to a similar kitty. The funds could then be used to support both the administrative capacity of the regulator, as well as social structures to deal with negative resultant issues of gambling such as addiction. More rehabilitation facilities could be built. More medical and social practitioners could also be trained to better deal with the negative resultant issues. The funds could also be used for further sporting developments.

Both alcohol and cigarette smoking are good, but very harmful if excessively consumed. The respective companies are legally required to inform potential clients of this very important fact. Therefore, each customer is aware of the potential risk before purchase.

In the same way, betting companies must be required to conspicuously inform potential clients of not only the potential risks of betting but also the chances of winning. This would in part deter citizens from compulsive and excessive betting, thereby helping to reduce the social impact of betting.   

If taken, all the stated steps would play a major role in limiting the financial muscle of the match-fixing cartels associated in one way or the other, to betting companies. Limiting their financial muscle would in turn translate to decreased funding of match-fixing acts and thereby reducing match-fixing occurrences. A reduction in match-fixing would then in part bring back sanity to sports.

These steps will however, face challenges. It may be difficult to convince the authorities to implement them. Not to mention, in the face of a deep pocketed gambling system.

It is important to note that there may be other structures other than betting, that support match-fixing. Also, a reduction in potential revenues for the betting companies does not in itself guarantee a reduction in match-fixing. However, they would be steps in the right direction.

Aaron Ogunde.