Advocacy Communication: A Scholar’s Quest for Practical Solutions Against Online Gambling!

Spotting Pesa the SportPesa Way!

In her book Kenya@50: Trends, Identities and the Politics of Belonging, Dr Joyce Nyairo says it is fair to argue that in the past 10 years Kenya has become a nation of gamblers. Nyairo adds that the proliferation of casinos in major urban centers in Kenya is both a reflection of, and an impetus for, a growing gambling mentality. I dare add, If Kenya has become a nation of gamblers, nowhere has this been reflected than in online sports betting -all very popular with the youth and given traction with mass media advertising.

The Numbers at a Glance

In April last year, GeoPoll ran a quantitative nationwide survey via mobile SMS to a sample of 1300 respondents whose demography had a 50:50 male to female ratio aged 18-45 years old. Through their survey, they sought to gain a deeper understanding of the Kenyan betting consumer, their consumption and gambling behavior, drivers, motivations and decision-making patterns.

One of the study’s findings was that gambling was becoming popular particularly among males in Sub Saharan Africa due to their high affinity towards sports and technology, combined with the proliferation of local sports betting players and the convenience of the mobile phone as a tool for gambling.

Basically, the steady growth and reliability of the technology supply chain is a key factor in driving growth. There is a matching growth of both the hardware i.e. the mobile phones, laptops and tablets and the software i.e. internet penetration and the gambling sites. Add all this to the ubiquity of messaging through all the promotional material in our media and there you have it-your recipe for today’s current state of affairs.

Gambling: The Business Vs the Affected Groups

As a business, the gambling industry is huge and extremely profitable with far reaching links. In many jurisdictions, it is linked with political and economic institutions of the state, promoted as legitimate and practiced by the majority of the population. Previous studies done in 2010 by King, Delfabrro and Griffiths suggested that electronic mediated gambling, in video game and online formats maybe more harmful or dangerous to players than traditional casino gambling The problem of online gambling is also compounded by the ease of access. This results into more time spent gambling and even gets to a point of full integration into the daily lives of a vast majority of the youth. In fact, many even see it as a way of earning a living and pursuing it as a full time economic activity.

That said, a worse off danger to this whole phenomenon of problem gambling is the issue of minors and gambling. Safeguards designed to prevent children and other vulnerable persons from being exploited or harmed by gambling are nonexistent; both in law or any regulatory policies. “The psychological literature from across different jurisdictions is in agreement that risk to minors suffering gambling related problems is approximately three to four times higher than it is the case with adults. Minors also experience high comorbidity rates between gambling other psychological problems such as depression, alcohol, drug abuse and smoking” This is according to the psychologist Barnes.

Kenya’s Current Reality

So here’s the fact, “Organized or not, legal or otherwise, gambling has existed as long as human beings have existed. Certain retrospective studies on the development of gambling note it has been part of the human condition throughout recorded history, and is among the earliest known human behaviors” (Castellani, 2000). In Kenya however, the current craze for this kind of activity is beyond all social understanding. As the Canadian scholar Amnon J. Suissa put it in her works gambling and cyber-addiction as a social problem, “What used to be considered a sin, a vice, deviant behavior, and an outlaw industry is now seen as a disease, a psychiatric pathology partaking of loss of control, and an impulse disorder. Gambling is also presented as a legitimate form of entertainment, a catalyst for economic development, a source of revenue for various levels of government, and a tool for job creation.” That is exactly the same place Kenya finds itself in. The situation is at crisis level and quickly spanning out of control.

Towards Problem Solving…

Current legislation may be insufficient or ineffective in protecting problem gamblers and others who might be at risk e.g. minors, young adults/university students. For this reason, some insist on an absolute ban on both online and all other gambling forms. Others however, believe that though allowed, both should be subjects of stringent regulation. There are certain precedent nations that have tried the absolute ban on online gambling e.g. China and the United States of America but not with much success.

On the other side of the coin is having stricter regulation to provide a safer environment and to protect consumers from unscrupulous operators, which in turn will provide tax revenue. However, some scholars warn that although the revenue is attractive to governments, the long-term social cost of the activity might not offset the financial gains (Smith and Rupp 2005). So therefore, what legal/regulatory measures are considered sufficient?

One author Margaret Carran opines that “whether any are necessary at all and how they are situated within the legislative framework is determined by a specific political choice that results from balancing politically different questions of morality, priorities in public health versus economy and commercial interests.” Some jurisdictions prohibit gambling either in entirety or some forms of it (most frequently online gambling). The question therefore begs; to allow or disallow?..here are my thoughts:

i. Permit but Discourage

For the Kenyan case, my stand would be to advocate for strict legal regulations and controls rather than a total ban because let’s face it, the forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter. A total ban would make more and more Kenyans seek out the forbidden fruit through all other means and ways and devour it with a vengeance.  Through a concerted push by a coalition of civil society players, amplifying our voices under the banner of “Permit but Discourage” seems a more practical solution to me.

Under it, and through the arena of a people centered advocacy campaign, the body can among other legal, moral or ethical interventions seek and push the government to: restrict availability, suppress advertisements and impose tight controls on the operators.

ii. Minors safely tucked under the Law

Separately, the need to prevent children from gambling participation also needs to be explicitly put at the forefront of the Gambling Act. The act should be amended to clearly underpin the need for the gambling industry to develop, adopt and monitor age-verification measures in order to prevent inappropriate access by minors. For this purpose, the coalition can push the government to create a gambling commission that will be given prominent power to deal with companies that tolerate or are found not to have put sufficient mechanisms to avert such incidents of minor participation.

I’m talking extremely high and punitive measures to all companies found to be in contravention. My thinking here is simple; companies are in for a profit, so if you seriously touch on their earnings, you will push them to reflect and reconsider.

iii. Let’s Call 911

For a good part however, we need to see this phenomena of problem gambling as a condition that in more than one way requires sort of a medical model to fix it. Their needs to be a well constructed treatment. Castellani, in his book Pathological Gambling: The Making of a Medical Problem proposes the following which we can borrow from.

For one, treatment needs to be available. To the best of our knowledge, there are currently no explicit gambling treatment problems. Just as there exists rehab centers for all other forms of addiction, the same should be in place for gambling to help in both the recovery and cessation of gambling. As a first measure, we might need to think of getting already existing addiction and mental public health facilities to expand their services to include problem gambling. Such a measure as the author notes can be particularly useful given the comorbidity of pathological gambling with other addictions and mental problems.

Secondly, whereas abstinence is a worthy goal for problem gamblers, it cannot be applicable to everyone. For a large population, controlled gambling is a viable option. If our goal is to remain solely centered on abstinence, we might not achieve success. Despite the best treatments, problem gamblers can always stick to their addictions. The aim is to advocate for a more workable solution that focuses on teaching the addicts the element of self control. This can be facilitated by well trained professionals who understand the whole psycho-behavioral element of addiction. Skills of which can be deployed at the county level, universities and places of high betting prevalence for instance highly populated slum dwellings.             

iii. We’re in this Together

The gaming industry too i.e. the SportPesas’, Betins’ and all the gambling companies equally have a huge role to play in promoting responsible gaming. Castellani for instance proposes that 1% of the gaming company’s profits should go into financial support of research, educational programs and treatment of all recovering addicts. This should be copy pasted here in Kenya with zero amendment and/or any further debate.

Moreover, the same companies should support the community through various CSR activities. This should be cast in stone; the law itself should guarantee this. In Kenya, some of the companies truly make an effort in supporting local sporting talent and that should be encouraged. Through this advocacy platform however, the message to the government should be that this should be done as a matter of citizens’ right rather than willful wish on the companies’ part.

Moreover, the gaming companies should go a step further and get involved in more impactful long serving ventures such as setting up of well equipped talent centers that nurture kids and young adults with sporting talent. On this one however, allow me to pique your mind; scholars often pose “Can an industry be socially responsible if its products harm consumers?” That is stuff of rich academic debate.

iv. Multifaceted Coalition for Success.

As they say “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with people.” All advocacy campaigns have similar ingredients of success; one key ingredient being coalition building. Coalitions’ ups numbers and in numbers; there is both strength and an amplified voice. It is critical therefore, that such a coalition draws on concerted efforts of willing citizens, state actors, non-state actors, the church, experts and any worthy member of society to demand that problem gambling be situated within an appropriate social, political, economic and cultural context in which the activity should take place. Attitudes of indifference are not welcome in such arenas. Advocacy calls for a lot of persistence, integrity and common drive to make things work.

My Take

It is generally agreed that in conflict, just as it is true for many other world problems; communication is a key ingredient in sorting out a lot of issues. Gambling has for a long time been termed by many as a ‘sin’, an evil, and a demerit good that has far reaching ramifications most of which are unknown to the gamblers themselves. Here in Kenya, online betting has swept the country like storm and people are betting multiple amounts, multiple times a day and with multiple hopes of hitting the jackpot. But the truth is, it is slowly becoming a socio-economic problem and communication and advocacy can play a vital role in changing the trend.

The Advocacy Expert Series defines Advocacy as “a strategic series of actions designed to influence those who hold governmental, political, economic or private power to implement public policies and practices that benefit those with less political power and fewer economic resources (the affected group).” To tackle this growing problem; I place my first key hope on advocacy communication.

If we (a large coalition of willing partners) come together, plan around a strategic series of actions that are well targeted, we will be able to persuade both the public to rally behind us and most importantly get the government to act on our amplified voices that are calling for policy change. We will be able to show the entire country that indeed; what we want is good for everybody and get them to see that it is the exact same thing that they should want. We would have engaged in positive communication and through It, impacted on behavior change.

So, as we part ways "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead