In 2018, Kenyans went online in their numbers and searched for betting and sports-related sites, a new report has showed, pointing to a gambling craze in the country.A massive 11 of the top 20 Google search queries were directly related to betting, according to an annual report for 2019 by Hootsuite and We Are Social.
Based on Geopoll report, Kenyan youth spend more than the average of $50 that other sports gamblers spend in Sub Saharan Africa.
“Kenya is the leader in the most amount of money spent on gambling. Youth elsewhere spend less than $50 a month and most bet only once a month,” Geopoll said.
The report found out that while in other countries the frequency of betting was once a month, in Kenya it’s once a week, a sign that young people could becoming gambling addicts.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kenya is the third largest gambling market after South Africa and Nigeria respectively in Africa in terms of revenues. However, in terms of participants, Kenya could be ahead of its peers in the region. C
“About 54 percent of youth in SSA have tried their hand at gambling. Kenya has the highest number of youth who have participated in gambling or betting in the past at 76 percent followed by Uganda at 57 percent. Ghana has the least number at 42 percent,” said the 2017 Geopoll Survey on Gambling in the SSA region.
Furthermore, the Geopoll Survey found that 79 percent of bets placed in Kenya are on football games, making the country the leading in football betting.
Mobile phone has since become the most convenient tool for those gambling. Despite having a higher internet and smartphone penetration, the 2017 Geopoll Survey on gambling found that South Africa has the lowest number of people who use mobile phones to gamble.
“The mobile phone has become the most convenient tool for those gambling. About 75 percent of those who bet do so using their mobile phones with Kenya having the highest number of mobile usage for gambling at 96 percent,” Geopoll said.
SportPesa, a leading betting site, emerged at the top of Kenya’s most searched topics. Among the top sports gambling related sites that featured in the list include Livescore (3), Betpawa (5), Betin (7), Prediction (8), Betika (9) and SportPesa Login (10). Others are Forebet (13), Livescore CZ (17), SportPesa Livescore (19) and Games (20).
Also in the top searches were Arsenal (12) and Chelsea (16), both English Premier League teams, another sign of the rising football and gambling craze in the country.
Besides the football and gambling sites, other top Google search queries included Kenya (2), News (4), Facebook (6), Tubidy — a music download site (11) and Gmail (14).