Betting among youth: A threat to the future?

The involvement of the youth in the rapid proliferation of betting centres appears to have attracted the attention of society. Many are worried that young people are becoming addicted to betting rather than going to school to develop themselves.

The desire to get rich has questions how bright the future of the upcoming youth will be. Gambling presents many negative social impacts including behavioural disorder, fraud, financial crisis and sometimes suicide.

Evolving technology also allows the youth to get easy access to these gambling activities.

The betting craze in the country has turned into a source of pain for some families because some students squander school fees in gambling, leading to delinquency among students. In some instances, the betting has led to families breaking up.

Interestingly, analysis shows that hows that betting companies are making millions of money and only a small number of people are announced as winners and are paid pittance.

According to operators, they make over 6,000 cedis weekly, confessing that most of the people who do bet lose very often. 22 year old Nii Armah Mensah explained that he is into betting because it is a way of he getting quick money even though he admitted that he has lost more than the number of times he won.

Some mothers also spoke against the increase of betting centres in town since it leads to bad behaviours amongst children So the question remains:

In the next thirty (30) years, do we wish to see a population skilful in gambling and objectionable quick-money-generating ventures, and the associated psychological disorders?.