Gambling in Transition: Assessing Youth Narratives of Gambling in Nigeria

"It's changing our lives, not for the better. It's important that we have a say". The role of young people in informing public health and policy decisions about gambling marketing

BACKGROUND

Marketing has a significant impact on the normalisation of gambling for youth across the globe. This has included shaping positive attitudes towards gambling, as well as increasing the social and cultural acceptance of gambling - particularly aligned with valued activities such as sport. Because of this, public health experts argue that gambling marketing poses a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of youth. While young people are increasingly exposed to, and impacted by marketing for gambling products, they are rarely consulted about policy issues and options. This study aimed to explore young Australians' perceptions of current policy responses to gambling advertising, whether they thought young people should be involved in discussions and decisions about gambling marketing regulations, and their perceptions of the duty of governments to protect young people from gambling industry marketing strategies.

METHODS

Qualitative focus groups (n = 22) were held with n = 64, 12-17 year olds in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. Participants were asked to reflect on current gambling policies, particularly relating to marketing, what they thought should be done about gambling marketing, and if and how young people should be included in public health responses to gambling. An interpretivist 'Big Q' approach to reflexive thematic analysis was used.

RESULTS

Young people highlighted the need for more effective regulations around the content and frequency of gambling marketing. They also wanted to see more realistic representations of the negative impacts of gambling to counter persistent positive commercial marketing messages. Most thought that young people should be given an opportunity to have a say about responses to gambling due to their unique experiences. Participants identified mechanisms to increase young people's engagement in decision making, such as direct lines of communication to different levels of government, involvement in research, and diversifying ways of engagement. Specific recommendations included more regulatory action such as bans on gambling advertising.

CONCLUSIONS

Creating formal structures that facilitate the inclusion of young people's perspectives in decisions made about gambling can result in more innovative and effective strategies to prevent the harms from gambling industry products, promotions, and practices.

Against the odds: exploring individuals' pushback mechanisms against commercialized football gambling

Introduction

The need for money, the pursuit of pleasure, and the liberalized access to gambling have been documented in several pieces of literature as the drivers of gambling. Such drivers are predicated on commercialized gambling, leading to the growth of the gambling industry and constituting a structural influence that normalizes the activity among young people.

Methods

Through a qualitative inquiry, this study investigates the social agentic factors of individuals who are susceptible to gambling. Fifteen non-gamblers were recruited across three commercial cities in Africa, namely Nairobi, Lagos, and Johannesburg. We first established the gambling susceptibility of the participants: their need for money, their passion for football, ownership of a smartphone, access to the internet, and exposure to football gambling marketing.

Results

Consequently, we probed for their agency, which is indicative of why they do not gamble, despite being susceptible to engaging in the activity. Four major agentic factors were identified from the participants; knowledge of the industry's business model, conserving the integrity of football, identity of self, morality and/or religion model.

Discussion

As such, these factors may be utilized to develop an intervention program for gamblers within the geographical context.

Regulation of gambling in Sub-Saharan Africa: findings from a comparative policy analysis

OBJECTIVES

Commercial gambling markets have undergone unprecedented expansion and diversification in territories across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This gambling boom has popularised the uptake of gambling products in existing circuits of popular culture, sport and leisure and raised concerns about the extent to which state legislation is equipped to regulate the differentiated impacts of gambling on public health.

STUDY DESIGN

Comparative policy analysis.

METHODS

This article provides a systematic mapping of the regulatory environment pertaining to gambling across SSA. The review was conducted by obtaining and triangulating data from a desk review of online materials, consultation with regulatory bodies in each territory and the VIXIO Gambling Compliance database.

RESULTS

Gambling is legally regulated in 41 of 49 (83.6%) SSA countries, prohibited in 7 (14.3%) and is not legislated for in 1 (2.0%). Of those countries that regulate gambling, 25 (61.0%) countries had dedicated regulators and 16 (39.0%) countries regulated via a government department. Only 2 of 41 (4.9%) countries have published annual reports continuously since the formation of regulatory bodies, and 3 (7.3%) countries have published an incomplete series of reports since the formation. In 36 (87.8%) countries, no reports were published. Enforcement activities were documented by all five regulators that published reports.

CONCLUSION

The review uncovered a lack of coherence in regulatory measures and the need for more transparent public reporting across SSA territories. There are also variations in regulating online products and marketing, with most countries lacking apt guidelines for the digital age. Our findings suggest an urgent need to address the regulatory void surrounding online forms of gambling and the promotion of gambling products. This underlines the importance of a public health approach to protect against an increase in gambling-related harms.

Gambling in Sub-Saharan Africa: Traditional Forms and Emerging Technologies

Purpose of Review

The gambling industry in Africa has seen substantial growth and evolution over recent years with a growing body of literature describing these shifts. Here, we provide a narrative synthesis of the extant literature on the origins, trends and consequences of the expansion and intensification of the commercial gambling industry in sub-Saharan Africa with a reference for future research on gambling as a growing public health concern.

Recent Findings

The historical shift and permeation of gambling in sub-Saharan Africa is diverse with evidence of certain countries following a neo-colonial logic. Advances in technology have made gambling more accessible and created new markets in Africa. A key motive driving gambling on the continent is a lack of stable employment. While the intensification and growth of Africa’s gambling industry has brought economic benefits to some African investors and individuals, this has been accompanied by a range of gambling harms. Legislation and policies designed to better regulate the gambling industry and redress these harms are needed. In this context, a small number of services and campaigns designed to mitigate gambling harms demonstrate promise, but more research is needed in this area.

Summary

The gambling industry in sub-Saharan Africa has undergone a dramatic transformation. While it is true that the growth of the African gambling industry has provided an additional revenue stream to governments, it is also necessary to acknowledge the concurrent rise in gambling addiction and the health-related and social harms that it elicits. As such, designing effective regulatory measures and policy interventions that can reduce the public health burden of gambling harms is vital. However, these interventions need to take in to account the significance of cultural differences that exist among countries on the continent.

Case Report: A gambling-related suicide in rural Malawi

Background As in many other countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Malawi's commercial gambling sector has grown considerably in recent years. Driven by the widespread availability of internet through mobile devices, the industry has penetrated both urban and rural settings. In Malawi the model commonly implemented by gambling companies is similar to that used by mobile phone operators. Agents equipped with cellular devices connect to providers' servers to place wagers for customers and print receipts using simple printers attached to their devices. This has produced lucrative returns for providers. While increasing attention is being paid to this trend, most research focusses on sports betting and there is a deficit of papers that document gambling-related harms. Methods Here we present a narrative case report of a 16-year-old boy, 'Wati' (pseudonym), who lived in rural Malawi and took his own life after gambling and losing money that did not belong to him. As his community is part of a demographic surveillance site, a verbal autopsy was conducted, later supplemented with interviews with Wati's close friend and uncle, to whom his mother referred us. We triangulated data from these three sources to create a narrative case report of Wati's suicide and its relationship to his gambling practices. Results We found that the gambling harms leading up to Wati's suicide were recurrent, that his gambling practices were diverse (lottery, football betting, digital games and cards) and that signs of distress were apparent before his suicide. Conclusions From this case report, we learn that underage individuals participate in gambling in Malawi, can develop harmful habits and that their gambling is not confined to sports betting. We also learn that there is a lack of accessible services for people who develop harmful gambling practices. Wati could have benefited from such services and they may have saved his life.

Using SNSs for early detection of disease outbreak in developing countries: evidence from COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria

Developing countries, particularly Nigeria, continually find it challenging to proactively and actively carry out early-stage surveillance for disease outbreaks due to the lack of quality workforce, a dearth of public health data, and the absence of automated surveillance systems in the country. This study presents the potential and ability of Twitter in tracking early detection of COVID-19, monitoring the dissemination of information, and exploration of public awareness and attitudes among Nigerians. Tweets mentioning COVID-19 and related keywords were collected in 11 batches via the NCapture™ plugin available on Google Chrome from February 20 - May 6, 2020. The analysis includes a time series analysis to track the distribution of data and content analysis to analyze the knowledge and attitudes of Nigerians. A total of 67,989 tweets (1,484 unique and 66,505 retweets) citing COVID-19 and related keywords were returned. The Tweets started to emerge earlier to the first confirmed case in Nigeria while maintaining a dangling-upward movement up to the 11th week under study. Matters arising from the tweets include a dearth of information on COVID-19 and optimism among others. The results provide insight into the intersection of SNSs and public health surveillance. Results show how helpful Twitter is to educate education in public health. Health organizations and the government may benefit from paying attention to both amusing and emotional contents from the Twitter community to formulate a viable policy for treatment and control.

Financial Literacy and Gambling Behavior in the United States

Problem gambling is becoming a growing concern in the United States because of the proliferation of, and state support for, gambling opportunities. The economic cost along with the physical and mental health problems associated with problem gambling make it necessary to study how problem gambling can be reduced. Our study examines whether financial literacy could be a means to reducing gambling frequency in the United States. We use data from the Preference Parameter Study of Osaka University, Japan, and apply instrumental variable probit regression models. The results show that, generally, financial literacy does not have a relationship with gambling frequency, but the relationship is significant in the states where electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are available. The results imply that gamblers are irrational and fail to assess the risks of gambling as well as the probabilities that maximize expected payoffs. It appears that gamblers' psychological gain from gambling outweighs the negative expected utility when there is easy access to gambling. Thus, rationality with regard to gambling decisions does not work unless the easy access to EGMs is controlled. Our results further show that males, older people, people with higher household income, and people who have easy access to gambling are likely to be frequent gamblers.

A Perspective on Age Restrictions and Other Harm Reduction Approaches Targeting Youth Online Gambling, Considering Convergences of Gambling and Videogaming

Internet gambling has become a popular activity among some youth. Vulnerable youth may be particularly at risk due to limited harm reduction and enforcement measures. This article explores age restrictions and other harm reduction measures relating to youth and young adult online gambling. A systematic rapid review was conducted by searching eight databases. Additional articles on online gambling (e.g., from references) were later included. To place this perspective into context, articles on adult gambling, land-based gambling, and substance use and other problematic behaviors were also considered. Several studies show promising findings for legally restricting youth from gambling in that such restrictions may reduce the amount of youth gambling and gambling-related harms. However, simply labeling an activity as "age-restricted" may not deter youth from gambling; in some instances, it may generate increased appeal for gambling. Therefore, advertising and warning labels should be examined in conjunction with age restrictions. Recommendations for age enforcement strategies, advertising, education, and warning labels are made to help multiple stakeholders including policymakers and public health officials internationally. Age restrictions in online gambling should consider multiple populations including youth and young adults. Prevention and harm reduction in gambling should examine how age-restriction strategies may affect problem gambling and how they may be best enforced across gambling platforms. More research is needed to protect youth with respect to online gambling.