Socio-political commentator, Reno Omokri, on Wednesday, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently ban all forms of sports betting in Nigeria.
According to him, placing a ban on sports betting would improve the conditions of most Nigerians and make the naira grow.
Posting via X, he charged the president to authorise the Nigerian Communications Commission to ban betting applications and revoke the licences of all physical sports betting operators.
He posted: “President Tinubu can immediately improve the economic conditions of most Nigerians and make the Naira grow by issuing an Executive Order authorising the Nigerian Communications Commission to ban sports betting apps from the App Store of any GSM Internet Service Provider in Nigeria and revoking the licences of any physical sports betting operators in Nigeria. It makes better sense than Buhari’s draconian #TwitterBan.
“There is such an epidemic of gambling in Nigeria and it is destroying Nigerian youths. $1 billion is spent on gambling daily in Nigeria, according to the National Lottery Trust Fund. Please fact-check me. The average Nigerian spends $15 daily on sports betting and other types of gambling, with the vast majority of that amount leaving our economy and going to places like Russia, South Africa, and Europe. The Naira can never sustain its rally under such circumstances.
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“A lot of the petty crime in Nigeria is caused by youths seeking money, by any means, to fund their gambling habit. It would be irresponsible for a first-class accountant like Tinubu not to act on such a matter as threatening to our national security as this gambling epidemic.”
Following the backlash he recieved for making the call, he wrote: “To those insulting me over my call that sports betting and online gambling should be banned or heavily regulated, are you aware that the poorest 10% of the population account for more than 50% of such gambling? What is the success rate? Please fact-check me: the break-even winning percentage to be profitable in sports betting is 52.4%. This means that unless you are running 52.4% of the time, you are running at a loss.
“And more than 98% of sports bettors do not meet this criteria. It is a negative economic activity that gives you a fool’s paradise. Once in a while, they tweak their algorithm to allow one person to win a large amount and use that to suck you in and feed your hopes that you will be the next sports betting millionaire. That is what keeps the average Nigerian spending $15 a day on a mirage. Insult me from now until thy kingdom come. The fact remains that online and offline sports betting and gambling are an economic drain on Nigeria.”
