Sports Betting Among Students of Colleges of Education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Abstract

Sports betting has recently become prevalent among students in institution of higher learning. Most students spend substantial amount of their time engaging in sports betting. The purpose of the study was to examine sports betting among students at colleges of education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The target population was students in colleges of education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The simple random sampling procedure was employed to select 361 students for the study. Questionnaire was used for data collection. The Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for the questionnaire was 0.73. Frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations were used to analyse data to answer three research questions that guided the study. The results showed that students patronised IXBet, EaziBet, EuroBet, SoccerCash [NLA] and Safari. It was found that, to a great extent, students agreed that their involvement in sports betting was low. Students reported that they engaged in sports betting to win cash and for entertainment. It was concluded that sports betting appeared more attractive to students since they offered free bonuses for placing bets. It was recommended that Guidance and Counselling Units on Colleges of Education campuses organise programmes to educate students on the types of sports betting available in the market and what they truly seek to offer clients. The Government and Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF) should develop socially responsible regulations and statutes on sports betting that have the potential of discouraging students’ involvement in the practice.

Impact of Football Betting on Study Habit of Senior Secondary School Students in Enugu State, Nigeria

“…Easy access to internet is a big problem challenging mostly the adolescent as parents provide it for the children not minding the negative implication. The findings of this study is in support of Opoku and Yeboah [8] who found out that students engage in sport betting because to win cash and for entertainment. Most often, students engage into football because they are already very use to the activities, they cannot concentrate without placing bet.…”

“…The effect of the above behaviour is detrimental as it incubates poverty, frustration, laziness, waste of resources, illusions, fantasy, wrong ideas about wealth, lack of vision and creativity. Emmanuel and Terdoo, [8] conclude in their findings that the prevalence of betting is on a high side because the motivation is mainly on financial empowerment. Opoku and Yeboah [9] also indicated that students engage in sport betting because of cash winning and entertainment.…”

Pathological gambling is an underestimated risk factor for pilfering and suicide in Ghana: a case report

“…Currently, it is a growing public health concern globally [2][3][4]. The advent of internet gambling and easy access to mobile phones and televisions have made gambling easy [5], with more youth of the working age group getting involved [5][6][7][8][9]. It is legal to engage in online sports betting in Ghana according to the Gaming Act of 2006.…”