As a growing up youth back in the days, yes we did have knowledge about gambling like the rolling of dice, playing of cards and ludo. Sometimes money was invloved but Mostimes the money was just for one to be serious and also for the fun of it and at the end of the game, money were often returned to the original owners. It was equally a way of socializing and also to escape loneliness.
But today, the reverse is the case. Gambling among Nigerian youth is a means of survival and livelihood. To many it is an occupation and a quick way of making money with little or no stress. One may ask what is gambling, well gambling is the staking of money or something of value on an event with the hope of getting a desired result like winning more money or something of greater value than what you staked originally.
Today there are different kinds of gambling games like the Casino, Card games, Dice game, Electronic games, sporting bet games,pitch quarters and lotto populally known here as "baba ijebu".
One thing about gambling is that is a very addictive habit and once it has eaten deep into you, stopping it becomes a problem. Despite the facts that they are risk associated with it like when one loses his stake, he simply justifies gambling again and will want to regain the money lost and by so doing he keeps staking and if he stakes and wins, he will like to push his luck further by wanting to gamble and win more. People even gamble away their cars and houses when they run out of cash.
These days, gambling is very popular among Nigerian youth, infact it is the trending thing. Every street you step into, you will see youth crowded either gambling on sporting bet or other kinds of gamble. An average Nigerian youth in the street will always tell you that gambling has helped reduced crime rate drastically in the country and unemployment, But how true is this? To me it is just a tale to justify their gambling act and making quick cash.
Apart from the fast and quick cash made from gambling which I see as the only advantage of gambling and of course that is if you win, there are many negative effects that is gradually eating deep into the lives of the nigerian youth.
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SOME OF SUCH EFFECTS ARE:
Depression:gambling can lead one to depression after one has gambled away all he/she has worked for over a long period of time and prolonged depression can lead to mental challenges or even suicide.
Family issues:gambling is very addictive and once one is addicted to it, it destroys relationship with family, friends, spouse, colleagues, children, dependents and loved ones. Sometimes due to anger of loosing a gamble one can tend to be very hostile or even try to isolate his/herself from family and loved ones.
Financial wastage: money is the major tool used to gamble and sometimes you hear when people say they gambled away their school fees and were chased out of school or you hear someone collected his wages after a long month at work and gambled it away even before reaching home.
Laziness:gambling makes the youth lazy and unprepared to go through the stress of learning a trade or skilled labour. Some even end up in the gamble house instead of their classroom because they want to make quick money with little or no stress.
Health challenges:lossing a Hugh amount on gambling or even loosing some valuable properties on gambling can lead to High BP, sadness, excessive drinking in order to suppress the feelings of guilt/shame and in some cases it causes insanity.
Crime: most times gambling leads to crime like stealing because a gambler needs to have money or some kind of valuable to stake with and once that is not at his/her disposal he might tend to get it through other means like stealing.
Kills vision/innovation: all a gambler thinks about is how to gamble and what to gamble with and this kills the innovation or creativeness in that person. He does not think about being creative all he/she thinks about is to gamble all day long. But come to think of it, if the likes of Ned was busy gambling his life away there will be no steemit and if Mark Zuckerberg was using his precious time to gamble they wouldn't have been facebook. Same are to be said about the successful entrepreneurs we have today like the likes of Mike adeunga, Dangote and all the popular and rich entrepreneurs we hear today around the world.
Bitterness and anger: for sure loosing ones hard earn money or valuables on gambling can be so annoying and very bitter. At this point very little thing can cause provocation and can eventually lead to violence.
One truth, gambling can pay your bills at one point or the other, but it is not a reliable way of generating income or create wealth.
I employ every Nigerian youth out there to make a difference, do something for Nigeria and Africa at large. People out there are watching and waiting, invest your time wisely on something Innovative and constructive and not on gambling. Be a youth with vision and focus, You never can tell you might be the next great inventor or even the next Dangote.
Finally let's face fact!!! Gambling has done more harm than good to the average Nigerian youth, well If you agree or disagree with me, drop your comment Let's discuss.
God go save us
How come I've not been following you all these days...?!Everything about the post is cool: the construct, phrasing and diction makes the rich topical content quite exceptional.
Our leaders should partly be responsible for the inadequacies gambling has inflicted among today's youths. But why is our youths so gullible?
I'm yet to see a poor man who was able to build great wealth few years after hitting it big through gambling. The case is always that of a man who drinks to forget his sorrows; the drink will finish, but the poverty and sorrow abides.
Thanks once more @blinks for the post.
I'm Tomfreeman!
You are right..if a gamblers hits it big from gambling, he will want to gamble more to make more money and at the end of the day he will loose all that he has won. That is why it is addictive, whether a gambler is winning or loosing he will keep gambling . The thought of investing after hitting it big will never come to the mind of a gambler because already the creativity in such person nolonger exist. Thanks for visiting my post. I appreciate.
Resteemed. I hope to see more of it. Well done.
Thanks you somuch for resteeming..i appreciate...
Plz upvote this post thanks https://steemit.com/steemit/@syl/syl-is-a-steemit-soldier
very nice post , i just upvoted you and followed you, you can also follow me @dapeeyg
Thanks for the upvote and I have followed you as well..
Nice post bro gambling has really eaten into the root of our society
Yes bro.. These days every single youth wants to gamble and make quick cash. Funny enough you see them write 18 and above on their sign post at sporting bet centres, but when you walk in you will see kids below 15 on uniform gambling during and after school hours. It is really nothing to write home about.
God save Nigeria youths from gambling
The situation really calls for prayers and the number of sporting bet companies and centres keeps increasing by the day. We really have to stand up and kick against it..
God go save us
Lol.... Always inspired whenever I read your blog. Information will always rule the world & technlogoly will always change the world development....it is just a matter of time and chance...keep steeming.
Thank you.
Yes, there may still be steemit reason being that Abrahamovic the owner of Chelsea is a gambler, yet he was still able to soar high in his investment. You hardly finds the top reaches people in the world that don't gamble. I can go ahead to to mention names but i wouldn't want to engage you much here. The point is, it all depends on your mindset and what you want for yourself. The goal is important,as your sense of reasoning will determine what the future will play on you.
First of all if you say Abrahamovic is a gambler, well I would not want to argue with you about that because the fact remains that I do not know him in person. But let me state something clearly here, Abrahamovic even before acquiring Chelsea football club was already one of the richest man in Russia and also in 2015 he was tagged the 13th richest man in the world. He is a politician, a business man and an investor. He owns Investment company mill house llc, Chelsea football club, he is one of the owners of Evraz and as well as a major shareholder in Nickel. So all this point to the fact that the person you mentioned above is already a billionaire and gambling did not take him high that ladder. Like you said that one hardly finds a rich man that does not gamble, well I know many that are rich but yet they don't gamble and even if a wealth person decides to gamble, he is doing it for the fun of it and not as an occupation or an avenue to create wealth. So a youth that gambles away his time and little money will never end up like Abrahamovic.
@blinks well said sir
Thanks..