Gambling: An emerging challenge for Ethiopian universities

Several private organisations in Ethiopia have recently been licensed by the National Lottery Administration as sports betting companies.

Gambling is not new to Ethiopia, but it has generally been frowned upon by most. However, the legalisation of sports betting seems to have changed this attitude and has attracted youth groups to gamble in public, something which was not the case before.

Gambling, referred to as ‘betting’, is defined as “staking money or something of material value on an event having an uncertain outcome in the hope of winning additional money and/or material goods”, according to Robert Williams in a 2017 article ‘The definition, dimensionalisation, and assessment of gambling participation’.

One of the youth groups that actively engages in gambling or betting is university students. Students often start gambling as a fun, entertainment and leisure activity.

Moreover, informal discussion with public university students indicates that it is very difficult to quit gambling once they have started – even though they know that it is not fun any more. Several reports and studies also indicate that, through time, gambling becomes an addiction.

Gambling is not a guaranteed way of making money, and the statistical probability of losing is by far greater than winning. However, students indicate that they become more annoyed and stubborn when they lose and are very likely to continue gambling, at least to try to recoup their losses.

A study conducted on college students also shows that students gamble faster following a loss rather than a win.

Consequences

In the Ethiopian context, the legalisation of online gambling, increased access to mobile smartphone and internet connections and the popularity of football games have created a fertile ground for sports betting among the youth, including higher education students.

There are a number of studies across the world which indicate the psychological and health problems associated with gambling. Those who gamble are more likely to suffer from depression, financial instability and poor relationships.

Discussions with students indicate that the number of students participating in gambling is increasing and it is becoming a serious psychological and financial problem.

In Ethiopia, public universities provide food for all undergraduate students. If a student prefers not to use this service, he or she will receive a fixed amount of money and these students are referred to as ‘non-cafe’.

In the discussion, students also mentioned that some students became ‘non-cafe’ mainly to get money for gambling. There are cases in which these students have lost all their money on gambling and subsequently tried to cheat to get food service from the university.

Another risk for gambling students is poor academic performance.

There has been no study conducted on the impact of gambling on Ethiopian university students’ academic performance, but the discussion with students clearly indicates that it will have a potential negative impact on academic performance because they spend much of their time betting rather than studying.

They do not simply gamble and look at the result at the end of the games. They rather think, first, about which football games to bet on and then they follow the live score of those games and this sometimes takes six or more hours.

Students also indicated that it is very difficult to do group assignments on the weekend and evening when there is a football match on because some of the male students often check live scores in the middle of the discussion.

Spending much time on gambling is not unique to Ethiopian university students. Students in Kenyan universities also spend more time on gambling than on websites for academic purposes, as was reported in University World News.

Is it a concern to Ethiopia?

In a country like the United States, the gambling business creates lots of job opportunities and it contributes significantly to the national economy.

This attracted countries like Ethiopia, which recently started legalising sports betting companies, despite fierce opposition from society.

Many Ethiopians are worried that the government is not able to properly regulate this business. They also accuse some of the sports betting companies of lacking responsibility and do not mind when under-age children gamble. Some university students also indicated that they started gambling when they were 15 or 16 years old.

Education policies, plans and strategies show that quality of education is one of the major challenges facing the higher education sector in Ethiopia. The ever-increasing habit of gambling among university students will worsen this situation.

Youth unemployment, which is a major challenge in Ethiopia, will also potentially increase because of poor academic performance, addiction and other health problems associated with gambling.

The government of Ethiopia and society should not wait until they see the worst consequences of gambling on the youth in Ethiopia. There are lessons to be learned from other countries.

Reports demonstrate that there are a number of students who dropped out of universities in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania because of issues related to gambling.

A study, which is based on the press media reports in the East African Community, also shows that 18 males carried out gambling-related suicides.

This study also reveals that “countries with the most widespread opportunities to gamble had more gambling-related suicides”.

Therefore, the Ethiopian government, universities and parents should be concerned about gambling and need to do something about it to lessen its expansion and negative effects.

Economic benefits vs the negative effects

The government needs to promote companies that contribute to the national economy, but it should not be at the expense of the youth’s future life.

Therefore, it needs to analyse its economic benefit vis-à-vis the ultimate negative effects of legalising online gambling on youth, family, society and the country at large.

The ministry of education needs to take this issue very seriously and closely work with relevant government bodies and stakeholders before the problem reaches a level at which it is too difficult to address.

Universities need to educate their students about gambling problems and how they can become an addiction that significantly affects, among others, their academic performance, financial stability, and social life.

They need to be strategic in addressing this issue. They could use different platforms (for instance, induction programs) and non-curricular activities (entertainment – music and poems) to educate their students about the dangers of gambling. They also need to think about how to at least stop gambling online.

In a country like Ethiopia, families have great responsibilities for their children even after the age of 18. Accordingly, parents could potentially play a role in addressing this problem. They need to talk to their children about the psychological, financial and social risks associated with gambling.

Students should know that their primary purpose is to learn and prepare themselves well for life and work in the future, and this requires sidestepping factors that distract them from their learning, and online gambling is one of them.

In addition, they should also know that making money through gambling is unlikely and that there are potentially long-lasting negative effects of gambling in their lives.

Scholars from different disciplines should also study gambling as a phenomenon from different perspectives and inform policies and practices that aim to address problems associated with gambling in the Ethiopian context.

It is through such a concerted effort that this kind of emerging problem could potentially be addressed.

Dr Abebaw Yirga Adamu is an associate professor of higher education at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He was director of the Ethiopian Institute for Higher Education, a Global Dialogue fellow of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA) (2019-21), International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) university administration support programme research management fellow. He can be contacted at abebaw.yirga@aau.edu.et.