Betting Ain't For Me!

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I remember some years back, before I gained admission to study Electrical Engineering, it was shortly after graduating from secondary school so I was still at home looking for a way to make myself busy. I needed money badly and since getting a job was proving to be difficult, I considered betting. That was my first foray into the world of betting and I decided to give it a try.

Prior to this, I had never tried it before. Mainly because I’m not a football fan so it didn’t make sense for me to make bets on something I’m not really familiar with. However, my close friends who were football fans were always talking about how they placed bets and won a lot of money. Or lost a lot of money.

So, during this period, I decided to go to my former classmate. He was working at a betting shop and I wanted him to help me play the perfect game that would give me the best odds. However, the second he realized the reason I was there, he refused to take my money. He told me that while he himself bets on a regular basis, he was never going to allow his friend start it. At least for me, I had not started so it was still easy to divert me from the path.

That day, he told me so many terrible things he had to do just because he was addicted to betting and many of them were things I knew of. The previous year, while we were still in school, another classmate of mine was lamenting how he used the family’s allowance to bet. His parents had traveled and gave him allowance for the upkeep of the family for an entire month. He spent it all on betting hoping he would be able to double him. It didn’t work.

So, by then, I already knew the dangers. I chose to ignore them as I ventured in but my friend stopped me and reminded me of every red flag in that particular industry. I didn’t really know what he did for me until so many years later when I got older and I began to see the debilitating effects betting was having on some full-grown adults.

This is a vice that so easily breaks homes and ruins relationships. I’ve seen someone sell just about everything in his home just because of betting, he also ran into serious debt that till date he’s yet to recover from. Right here where I live, a neighbor of mine used his house rent for next year to gamble and he lost it. His wife has been crying since because the man is a deadbeat and she was the one to raise the money. Rent expires in January, how will she be able to raise the money before then?

Betting is a dangerous game and it will always take more than it’s giving you. You’ll be shocked to learn that some people consider it as a source of livelihood, hoping to make money from it. For me, I stay as far away from it as I can. If someone wins on the platforms, I celebrate with them. If they lose their money, I sympathize with them. However, I will never allow it anywhere near my phone.

Funny enough, I’m always seeing the ads. I see them when I’m downloading files, I see them when I’m watching skits, but nothing will make me try it out. Even when someone asked me to open an account with one just for the referral bonus, I found it hard to do. That’s how scared I am of the app. It only requires once to start, and if you’re not careful, you’ll be sucked into the hole.

There are people who have it under control, good for them. But there are way more people who are living under the influence of betting platforms. I can only hope that with time, the chains will be broken and everyone will be free.

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

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_{N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.}

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