Sports Betting Has Sapped Life Out Of Football

Gone are the days when sports fans, in anticipation of a local or international match, would let their guard down and sit back to enjoy the beautiful game as  they let off steam from life’s hustle and bustle.

Nowadays, one would be forgiven for mistaking fans watching a football match for brokers following the performance of a scrip on a stock exchange electronic board. This is because of their keen-ness on the data being displayed on their screens during a live match.

Previously, at the end of a game, score-lines and player of the match prediction would take precedence;fans would savour the finest moments of the match,hi-fiving each other as they enjoyed the usual camaraderie amongst team’s fans. After the excitement ebbed away, it would be time to catch up with old friends or family,join in the Mexican waves, and the like.

These days fans have been turned into data analysts.

This has been borne by the evolution of sports commentary that heavily relies on statistics to give the viewer a feeling of absolute control and prediction on the match’s outcome; an oxymoron, since the fan is devoid of any feeling while watching the game unfold –his only interest being winning the bet.  This is why he views the player as a robot whose next action can be predicted by use of algorithms that calculate how many matches he, the player, has previously won against his current opponent when X was the goalkeeper, or the average number of games played without an injury, or penalties missed when it has rained during a match – all these being useless facts.

What happened to just sitting your nice bottom down and watching these men at work, entertain you? The present-day professional footballer has been turned in to a gladiator. Because he is highly paid and overtly pampered, a lot of human characteristics have gradually been withdrawn by the ever-demanding fans and sports betting companies who somehow imagine that the player owes them something.

I am no longer as enthusiastic as I used to be about football, say a decade ago. I, however, was not amused at all when by chance I bumped in to two acquaintances and we decided to have a sit down, catch up as we watch a football match. What transpired, dear reader, really took me aback. As soon as the match kicked off, they got glued to the TV screen, occasionally but emotionlessly glancing at their smart phones to check on the progress of other matches that they had also placed bets on. One could sense a change of mood and a tinge of irritability whenever I tried to introduce small talk during the match.

By half-time I couldn’t quite figure out whether those two had changed over the years, or over the 45-minute period the match had lasted, judging by their sudden change in demeanor. I won’t get in to the nitty-gritties of sports betting modus operandi,but basically it involves a participant placing a certain amount of money as a bet.  If he correctly predicts the outcome of a match/matches, a pre-determined prize money is up for grabs, in most occasions instantly.

I quit drinking alcohol about a year ago, but for the first time I understood why my two acquaintances still needed their tipple. I mean, after draining all your emotional energy in what is supposed to be entertainment, you sure will need something to calm down your nerves , especially if you have lost your bet.

Fortunately for them, this time they had both won and their only regret was that they had placed a small bet.

Let me eliminate any doubt here, if any, just in case you thought they left instantly to go and invest their prizes in some meaningful ventures or even buy their girlfriends some jewelry. The moment the winnings were cashed, more drinks and some accompaniments were ordered to celebrate the victory. Something about that shift in personality bothered me, albeit shortly before a polite waitress arrived with a water jug and a hand-washing bowl and proceeded to wash our hands in readiness for the mouth-watering roast goat ribs and kienyeji that had been served.

Betting as a business Venture

Betting is not a new phenomenon. Horse-racing enthusiasts who are mostly in the high-end society have been participating in it for over 100 years. It is important to note that present-day betting has cut across the social hierarchy and even the low –income-earners find the indulgence attractive. This is due to the little investment required and the promise of winning a jackpot worth tens of millions of shillings.

Business people have identified an opportunity to make money, hence the reason betting companies are cropping up every other day with a promise to make someone an instant millionaire. These betting firms seem to have perfected what pyramid schemes did not, only this time they have a regulator.

They operate on the same business model as insurance companies do: pooling of resources and spreading the risk. With the law of probability starkly skewed to their advantage, they have impressive bottom-lines and even the muscle to sponsor local and even foreign clubs.

Buoyed by people’s greed and desire to get rich quickly with the least effort imaginable, betting firms have scientifically utilized economies of scale by ensuring that the participants remain hooked by guaranteeing small winnings based on probabilities. The upside of it is that there has emerged a new crop of sports enthusiasts who had hitherto never heard of the term extra time in football, but can now name the entire Fiorentina FC line up in a minute.

Mobile money transfer companies have also seen robust growth since betting started being popularized about a year ago. All this is great news for the investors who ostensibly provide the masses with ways that make sports watching a little bit more exciting. But at what cost?

Social-Cost Benefit

For what it’s worth, there are people whose lives change instantly as a result of betting correctly, which cannot be entirely called winning. You see, a person is said to have won as a result of practice and focused application of definite variables whose outcome can be pre-determined. Betting on the other hand is pegged on sheer luck, masked as calculated risk. How else do you explain the sadness on participants’ faces in the mornings when they realise the strong team that they had placed their entire bets on lost to an under-dog? Only the high risk-takers take the prize home.

Betting companies are not very volunteering when it comes to highlighting the social cost of gambling. Woe unto you should you taste the winnings! Across the country, young men and women have fallen victim to this addiction and its effect is clear for all and sundry. Cases of depression and suicide have been reported. This is after the victims have placed bets using rent money and school fees and lost it all. Others have accumulated huge debts from family, friends and even cyber cafés to sustain the habit.

Players have also fallen into temptation when, for instance, bookmakers have offered them incentives, including cash,in order to influence the outcome of matches. This may be due to financial difficulties, greed or coercion. The ignonimous case of Kenyan cricketer Maurice Odumbe comes to mind.

When it comes to relationships, social media is doing enough already in terms of straining them; one can only imagine the outcome of a lost bet with money meant for dowry, with the best intentions of buying the father-in-law a designer suit.

Risk appetite

Some people are born with a high-risk appetite and would place a bet using their entire savings regardless of the outcome. A case in point is a man in Florida,USA who won the lottery seven times! Talk about lightning striking seven times.

This reminds me of a Middle Eastern fable about two prisoners who were sentenced to hang by the noose by the Sultan for a treasonable offence. As a show of magnanimity, the Sultan asked if either of them had a final request. One prisoner knowing how the Sultan was fond of his white stallion suggested that he would train it to fly if he was given a year to live. The Sultan was astounded, but the thought of seeing his stallion flying was irresistible and thus he agreed to this proposal.

The other prisoner could not believe his colleague’s audacity and asked him how he intended to achieve the impossible, to which the promisor replied, ‘‘In a year’s time,the Sultan might be dead,the horse might be dead,I might be dead,or the horse will fly''.

So,unless your risk appetite matches the Florida guy, and you approach betting as an investment avenue, please refrain from sapping the soul out of the beautiful game.

Edited by TMK