Latest Nija Gist

Betting shops, threat to viewing centres, pool houses

A betting shop

The advent of sports betting shops in the country have become a source of worry to operators of match-viewing centres and agents of pools houses, writes Idris Adesina

“This Arsenal team are capable of making someone hypertensive. They are a very unreliable club,” an Arsenal fan shouted in a football betting shop in Ojuelegba, Lagos.

This was after Arsenal lost 2-1 to Manchester United in the English Premier League. It should have been just like any other EPL result but the Gunners’ fan was irritated because he had staked a bet on his favourite team, hoping that they would play a draw against the visiting Manchester United.

Even though he lost the stake, he still had a consolation, as his bet of a first half draw earned him some money.

It is a common spectacle to see football fans throng these venues in a bid to monitor the matches they had staked their hard-earned cash on.

They have jettisoned the once valued viewing centres and now pitched their tents with the agents of the various betting companies that have sprung up in the country and are thus able to watch the matches free of charge in their shops, while betting.

Moreover, the coming of these sports betting shops has also put pool shop operators on their toes.

The Genesis

The wide spread popularity of cable television in the 1990s and the gradual decline of Nigeria’s football league, brought about the increase in the followership of European football clubs.

A 53-year-old man, Niyi Oladotun, a keen follower of Nigerian football, remembers vividly how Nigerian football fell from grace to grass.

He said, “In the late 70s and early 80s, people trooped came out in large numbers to watch matches in the stadiums. Then clubs were scattered around the country. It was a delight to watch Shooting Stars, Stationery Stores, Enugu Rangers and many others play in the Challenge Cup and other competitions. The Challenge Cup was so popular then that even local musicians waxed songs about it.

“But when satellite television stations got into the country in the late 80s, only the rich could afford them and watch the foreign leagues, particularly the EPL. But you know, with time, the digital television providers came in and even our own league was not well maintained, so people had to satisfy their cravings for their favourite pastime – watching football.”

Match-viewing centres came when there was a sharp rise in the support of foreign clubs and the non-affordability of satellite cable television for the teeming lovers of these clubs. These viewing centres gradually increased and spread across cities in the country as more and more cable television providers entered the market.

A viewing centre in Lagos

Viewing centres proved the viable alternative for both the young and old lovers of the game as they provided services at an affordable amount.

Oluwole Adeoye (not real names), a viewing centre operator in Ijebu Ode, who has been in the business for a decade, said the price charged for viewing matches ranged between N50 and N150.

He added, “When I started this business many years ago, because there were not many viewing centres around, we charged N70 for a normal match. This was also due to the expensive subscription rate we paid then. But nowadays that we have become many, a normal match is now shown for N50 while the big games like El Clasico, Manchester Derby and others go for between N120 and N150.”

As time went on, viewing a match became as easy as buying a bottle of beer. Rather than rush your drink because you wanted to watch a football match, you could sit comfortably in a cosy environment to watch your favourite team play as you nursed a bottle of your favourite drink.

A beer parlour attendant in Iyana Ipaja, who craved anonymity, said the sales he records during the season is on is higher than when the season is on break.

The attendant said, “We once had a small space with a small television but as my boss discovered that the place gets stuffy and is usually overcrowded on weekends when there are matches, he appealed to the landlord and we extended our shop more outward and he also got this bigger television that can take care of more people.”

Indeed, the atmosphere in the shop was really comfortable when we visited but was cheaper than going to the ramshackle viewing centre that was just a stone’s throw away from the place.

On that day, our correspondent bought a bottle of malt drink for N120 to watch a match between Manchester City and Everton, which the former won 1-0, as against the N100 displayed on the board of the viewing centre.

In one of the streets in the Shangisha area of Lagos, a sports bet shop owner, who gave his name as Baba Zainab, told our correspondent that people come to his shop because it was easier to monitor the games there.

“I have discovered that when people come around here, they watch the match free and are able to monitor their stakes. They also will be able to stake more when they are watching the matches here than at the other centres,” he said.

Bettors anxiously waiting for results

Many of these shops make use of large plasma television sets, two or more, depending on the size of the shop.

Although, most of the bettors could be seen standing, their eyes were either fixated on the television sets or on the agents who help them in staking their bets.

In Baba Zainab’s shop, the two television sets display different matches for the watchers.

Asked about the small space he uses the middle aged man said, “We will be moving from here soon. We have noticed that our clients are not feeling too comfortable in this place, hence we are moving to a bigger place in a nearby street very soon.”

To back his words, he showed our correspondent a notice which read, “In order to serve you better, we will be moving to Association Avenue soon. Thanks for your continuous patronage.”

At one of the bet shops in Ojuelegba, an agent told our correspondent that the bettors resorted to standing after they had spoilt the chairs.

“There were chairs here, some of them are even settees but the crowd that comes around here spoilt them. That’s why you see them standing but soon we will buy new ones.”

He added that at least 300 clients visited his shop on a daily basis for business.

“It is not only on match days that they come. We have games of other sports like horse racing and dog racing. Those ones are instant so when a bettor needs instant money, he just walks in and bets and see the race then knows if he has won or lost,” the agent added.

But for Olusola, a 17-year-old student who lives in Shangisha, it is not just about betting. He goes to the sports betting shop to watch matches because the place is more comfortable and free than the viewing centres.

“That shop is a place where I go when I am idle at home. I place a few bets on the teams I know and watch matches free of charge.”

For Tunde based in Sagamu, Ogun Sate, the sports bet shop is a better place than the viewing centres because there are fewer incidences of violence.

He said, “I have been watching matches at that shop there for more than three months now and there has not been a single fight. It is safer and more convenient to watch matches there.

“At the place I used to watch matches before, it is either they break bottles on somebody’s head or spoil the man’s TV because their teams lost. Here, there is nothing of such yet. Just bet, watch and go home.”

Different strokes for different folks

It has however been a tale of mixed tunes for viewing centre operators since football fans decided to pitch their tents with the betting shops. While the sports bet shops are raking in money and counting profits, the viewing centres, are counting losses.

Onile, a viewing centre operator in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, lamented that sales have dropped drastically in recent times for him.

He said, “The situation is not what it used to be. The customers now prefer to stay in those shops where they bet and watch matches. Really, if not that subscription for DStv came down; I would have packed up this shop.”

Although, Onile’s viewing centre is a wooden structure close to the Lagos Garage in Ijebu Ode, it has 12 wooden benches arranged in two rows facing two 32 inches television sets whose brands cannot be deciphered.

He has had his fair share of patronage in the three years he had spent in the business and has been able to own a motorbike through the profits he made from the business but he isn’t the only one complaining of the low sales.

Alade Yusuf, who owns a viewing centre in the Olosa area of Mushin, Lagos State, said patronage has been erratic for him since the advent of the sports bet shops around the area.

He said, “The people who still watch matches here are people who either don’t like betting or those who would prefer the service we offer here to watching elsewhere. Even, people now watch matches on credit here, which they don’t really do before.”

However, an agent at a bet shop in Akoka, said the shop used to be a viewing centre before it was converted to a bet shop.

The agent said, “The owner of this place converted it to a bet shop when the bet company started making announcements for agents and outlets. It was formerly a viewing centre which had a lot of customers. Now that we show matches free, people come in and stake a lot.”

Risk at sports bet shops

Although the matches are watched free-of-charge, the crowd watching matches there face the challenge of security.

Agents at work in a betting shop

Match-viewing centres have been known to be venues of violence and theft overtime but same could extend to sports bet shops because a lot of people, even touts, who used to patronise viewing centres, have turned to sports bet shops.

It was learnt that there was little or no provision for the security of the bettors who come to these shops except various warnings pasted on walls of these shops announcing that ‘phones and properties are kept at owner’s risk’.

Another notice in a shop read, ‘phones are charged here at owner’s risk’. While yet another shouted in red letters, ‘Violence of any sort is not allowed here. If you want to fight, please step outside. Thanks. Management.’

But despite these warnings, clients have complained about loss of valuables during and after watching matches at the bet shops.

One of such victims is a man in his early 30s, who raised the alarm that his wallet had been removed in a bet shop in Mushin. He said he had watched the match in a shop on Ojuwoye Street and did not notice his wallet was lost until he wanted to pay for his stakes at the same shop.

“It was like a dream. The female agent wanted to embarrass me because she had staked my games for the following day and I had promised that I will pay her after the match I was watching ended. It wasn’t funny at all. Thank God I had some spare cash in my front pockets,” the man said.

Bet shops threat to pools betting

The weather-beaten signpost at the entrance of the shop in one of the numerous lanes in Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, read ‘May Pools’. A first-time visitor to the pools house need not be told that it has been sitting there in that lonely corner for decades.

There were four men, who sat poring over various forecasting books. The books evidently contained various results, permutations and combinations of games, which had been previously played. It is an important tool in the trade. The atmosphere in the shop was far from cool. The blazing December afternoon sun was drawing sweat from everybody.

There was also a woman, called Iya Bose, who is in her early 40s, sitting behind a counter. She was attending to one of the men who wanted to forecast the Week 21 games. Indeed, she is the proprietress of May Pools betting house and an agent of Al Barka Fixed Odds. She has been in the business for more than two decades.

“Pools betting is a business that has been in Nigeria for a long time and I don’t think it can be wiped out. For instance, I have been here since 1982 doing this work as an agent. There is hardly anybody who plays pools in this town that does not know me,” she said.

But our correspondent learnt that the emergence of new sports betting companies such as Nairabet, Surebet, 1960bet, Merrybet, Goldenbet, Mybet, among others, is a thing of worry to the pools’ players and agents.

Although their scope is the same, these companies threaten pools existence due to the dynamic nature of the Nigerian society. The age range of pools players is mostly from 30 years and above but these new betting sites have made it so easy that even youngsters can stake a bet.

In Sabo, Sagamu, also in Ogun State, the proprietor of A.K.D Pools Agency, Mr. Layi Taiwo (also not real names), recalls that pools betting was once exclusively for the elderly.

He said, “Back then in the 70s and 80s, pools business was not for anybody below the age of 40. It was a thing of passion for the elders who enjoyed football and other sports that were on offer then.

“Nowadays young men in their 20s come here to play pool. Betting is a dangerous thing but people believe that it is an easy way to make money. That is why nowadays, children in secondary schools play these new football bets that are around the place.

“Nevertheless, we never allow those that are under the age of 18 to play pools because it is against the rules of the game. The sports betting thing is not well regulated like pools. The agents are just out there to make money.”

But this trend is not a source of worry to pools agents and bettors, says Mr. Abiodun, proprietor of Anese Pools Agency, Palm Grove, Lagos, and an agent of Al-Salam Fixed Odds.

He said pools bettors were committed players adding that his clients ranged from young people to the elderly ones.

Abiodun said, “I know of a customer here who will not play any other form of gambling than pools. He lives a little farther from here but will bypass many sports betting shops and come here to play. That is the level of commitment of pools players.”

Pools betting has only 49 matches listed on the coupon from which the bettor has to predict only a specific number of matches which will be drawn at the end of the week.

This, however, is one reason why pools is what it is, according to Iya Bose.

She said, “The fact that you can only predict a draw is why it is called fixed odds. Those ones offering more products have more chances to lose and win more when compared to the ones who play pools.”

Also, the minimum stake on the coupons of pools companies vary. While Al-Salam allows a minimum of N25, Al-Barka allows N20. But the sports betting companies allow even lower stakes once you have filled your online account.

“The stakes don’t really matter. The fact that their products are more than that of pools made it so. You can stake on a home win, away win, home loss, away loss, draw, and so on with them. While with us it is only a draw that guarantees a win for you. The stake is fixed, although it can change with time. Some years ago, it wasn’t N20. So in some years to come, it might be increased too,” Taiwo said.

Why stay with pools?

Despite the risks involved in pools betting, our correspondent discovered that the bettors remain committed to playing the game.

Mr. Sola Olaoluwa, who is in his late 40s, is one of Adenekan’s customers. He said he could not leave the playing of pools despite not winning for three months.

He said, “I have been playing pools now for more than 15 years but there is something in the game that gives me hope that I will win big soon. There was week I wanted to play with more money but I just played with N100 and at the time of payout, I got N20, 000. Although I can’t remember the year now, but I can tell you that it was a lot of money then.

“I have not won for up to three months now but it is only due to one or two matches which spoil my game. I know that soon there will be a breakthrough for me because I can’t play any other form of betting except pools.”

For Mr. Ayoola Odulawa, one of Taiwo’s customers, although the payout in pools is not clear to him, he is staying with it because the game has helped him when he needed it most.

“I have won pools a lot of times. You know back then in the early 80s and late 70s, we hardly had access to the watching of foreign matches and pools betting isn’t about local matches. We only trusted our agents and collectors, who in turn depend on the results provided for them by the pools betting companies.

“But I don’t regret playing pools. I would have loved to try out all these new ones that the young ones play these days but the complexities involved in them is not for me. It is beyond me. I once had a taxi cab that I bought with pools money. Although the winnings might not be exhorbitant or in millions, we have had people who have won large amounts of money here in this shop.”

Conclusion

The trend of sports betting has really changed and the train continues moving. Although the trend of pools betting might have reduced, it should be noted that it evolved into the current and more popular online sports betting.

Football lovers are on the lookout for places where they can watch matches for free and as well make money from the support they give to these foreign clubs, hence the sports bet shops offer the platform for the actualisation of this.

Also, investigations however have revealed that some of the pools betting companies have moved with time and now own online betting sites in addition to their normal pools betting.

However, the fortunes of pools players tend to vary and also at par with the younger and newer sports bettors. While pools bettors take a longer time to win, a modern sports bettor is assured of one win in a shorter while, though the rules there too are stringent.