(Newswire.net — January 28, 2020) — As far as gambling is concerned, Kenya stands out among its fellow Sub-Saharan African countries for several reasons. Nowhere else in the region does such a large number of youth participate in betting in general, and sports betting in particular, as in this country.
It isn’t only in Sub-Saharan Africa that Kenya’s affinity towards sports betting stands out. As a 2017 PWR report showed, the East African country is the 3rd biggest gambling market in the whole of Africa. Betting odds in Nigeria is very popular too, South Africa occupying the top place.
Read on to know more about the Kenyan sports gambling market.
How popular is gambling in Kenya?
According to a report, the Kenyan gambling market will touch the $50 million mark sometime this year. That shouldn’t come as a surprise given that Kenya’s government has issued betting licenses to more than 30 firms and casinos.
Such a lax attitude towards betting has filled the coffers of the Kenyan state. A 2015 Business Daily report showed that after South Africa and Nigeria, the Kenyan government received the most amount in taxes ($28.3 million) from its betting industry.
Fast forward two years, and the 2016/17 financial year was a watershed moment for the gambling industry in the country. Figures show that the gambling industry made $198 million in gross revenue during that period, almost half of the annual health budget of the entire country.
Who are the primary gambling consumers in Kenya?
With their number constituting 54% of the East African country’s population, it is the low-income earners (LIEs) in Kenya who are the main customers of the gambling market in the country. Among them, the 18-25-year-olds form about half of the low-income gambling consumers.
Access to smartphones, high unemployment rates in the country (almost 7.4%), and stories of other gamblers like them who became overnight millionaires are the major factors that lure these strata of the population towards gambling.
One survey carried out by GeoPoll showed that almost 40% of the 18 to 25-year-old gamblers in the country are unemployed. Nearly a third, meanwhile, are students. It further notes that the majority of gambling consumers hope that they’d be able to turn their passion for betting into a profession.