Bankers, corporate workers resort to gambling to pay family bills

If one walks into Supabet, a major gambling arena on Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, on any day of the week, one could make a mistake of taking the place for a banking hall or a corporate firm. Interestingly, the gambling centre is a stone-throw neighbour to a major branch of a commercial bank.  When you see nearly everyone inside the building corporately dressed in suit, shirt and tie, you would be tempted to ask if the nearby bank is using the betting arena as an annex. When Saturday Tribune visited the place, mid-week, it was a beehive of activities, an occurrence which an operator described as the usual daily spectacle. The one-storey building, according to findings, has become a melting point of sort for those still in the corporate world and their former colleagues, who mostly lost their jobs to the pervading economic downturn in the country, but are still struggling to keep their status as elite.

Cars, which the operator said belonged to the suited gamblers, littered the frontage of the building. Interestingly too, the two groups of the corporate world, that is, the employed and out-of-job, were seen well-dressed, making it difficult for the Saturday Tribune to work out the numbers that sneaked away from their offices and jobs, to gamble away the official hours.

While bankers were pointed out in their midst by an agent who chose to help out without attracting the attention of the gamblers, none could be confirmed as being from the nearby bank. This was as the agent said, “they (the bank’s staff) can’t do their own (gambling) here (at Supabet). It is too close. Those who are in it among them will definitely go far away from here”.

Lunch-time menu?

Saturday Tribune observed that the best time to catch the bankers and their corporate colleagues in other sectors is the lunch time. It was learnt that instead of spending money on costly meals in fancy restaurants which one will take as complementing their status as corporate players, those into gambling among them, prefer to settle for snacks and stake the lunch money on sports betting and other lottery gambles.

After-work visits to betting shops are also observed to be very rampant all over the state, including the high-profile areas. Thursday evening, Saturday Tribune observed cars parked by the sidelines on the main road from Shangisha, linking Magodo Phase 2 Second Gate. The parking of the cars further narrowed the not-too-wide dual carriage way, thereby adding to the usual end-of-the-day vehicular traffic, driving into Magodo.

Almost directly opposite the building housing Multichoice, is a roadside sport betting corner which plays host to all manner of gamblers in the evening, including those obviously into white-collar jobs. A small crowd of about 15 players were seen pushing and shoving themselves, to check the ‘result’ pasted on a dirty board. The place became a leveler of sort as both the educated and the uneducated Keke Marwa-riders blended into a small crowd, desirous of making quick money.

A decoy?

When Saturday Tribune sought to know why those who are out of corporate jobs still come to gambling arena, all decked up in shirt, tie and, at times, suit, it was learnt that it is more of a way to ‘cover up’ in their neighbourhoods, than trying to compete with their former colleagues who are still employed.

“You know people laugh at and mock young people, especially guys (young men) without jobs. It is even worse when you lose your job because, instead of sympathizing with you, they prefer to engage in gossiping about your misfortune and, God help you, if you now buy something like a car that they can see when you have no job, they will start carrying rumour about; that you have gone to do jazz (money ritual), since they don’t know how you are making the money and they won’t ask before spreading the rumour about you. They think once you are laid off from a bank job, you can’t do anything legitimately to make money, without wearing suit again. So, why not wear suit and tie when going out to satisfy the rumour-mongers, while you make genuine money from sport betting?,” an agent stated.

Some out-of-job corporate gamblers too, it was gathered, simply dress to impress the uneducated and not to feel inferior among the elite arm of the gambling office. Thankfully, for these tie-knotting, suit-wearing players, the open space in a standard gaming centre like Supabet has giant industrial fans all over, for the comfort of those patronising the place. Even the managers’ offices are fitted with air-conditioners. The entrance to the centre also boasts of a giant generating set, popularly known as “noiseless”. The interior is also fitted with desktop computer units. For the corporate gamblers, including the pretentious ones, life can’t be better.

The e-walleters

A betting agent, Mr Bayo Kilanko, however explained that the percentage of corporate players that patronise both the popular and the not-too-popular gambling centres, is nothing compared to those who desired total secrecy and play from the comfort of their offices, using either the official computer system, if personalized, or configuring their smart phones for the job.

“This is safe and secretive. Nobody, except you, knows what you are doing. Except they tell their close friends or relations, you will never know they gamble and I mean senior office people (executives). It is only insiders who know their online registration and digital wallets that can trace their identity,” Kilanko told Saturday Tribune.

It was learnt that on-line gambling is well protected with the necessary computer software since the players are expected to put their real identities out there for the sake of payment of their winnings.

Kilanko further stated that many corporate workers who gamble do not often leave their workplaces for betting centres, adding that they register online with their digital wallets containing the money used in betting. He said, if eventually they become winners, withdrawal is usually requested for and the money will be credited to the digital wallet.

According to him, corporate gamblers, more often than not, go to nearby betting centres at the weekends because they are always busy during the weekdays and may just want to have a feel of their environment when not at work, adding that most importantly, major games happen during the weekend.

E-Walleters in banking halls rarely use the office system, Saturday Tribune was told by an insider who also ‘plays’, because “our systems (computer facility) are always specially-configured and could be monitored by our bosses”.

So how do they get to play? “It is on individual’s phones. Though the phones are not always available to those attending to customers in the banking halls because of the security of the depositors’ money, but those on marketing targets get to play as much as they want to, while away from office. If you are in the course of completing your game and you are approaching the office, it is just to get a corner, park the car and get it done before getting to the office. Even for those in the office, once they lay hold of their phones, they do their catch-up,” said the insider.

Identity theft?

Is it possible for an e-walleter who is a popular figure to hide his or her identity online, by using the bio-data of a relation or a close friend, so that nobody would trace any involvement in gambling to him or her?

Mr Seyi Adeyemo, another sports betting agent, explained that while it is possible to hide one’s identity by using close relations and friends’ bio-data, without the owners of such identities getting to know, the problem lies in collecting winning payments. Apart from the gambler being expected to play with his or her credit card, he or she must convince the operators that the e-wallet account belongs to him or her before any payment could be made. The implication of this is that the possibility of using another person’s identity for e-gambling is nearly zero. It means that anyone you come across in the online game, regardless of what you consider to be his or her status, is a player. Though individual gamblers are, at present, well protected online and it may be difficult to find out whom and who are currently involved, an incontrovertible fact is that any day such comes into the open by whatever design, any name one finds on the list is the true identity of the gambler.

Adeyemo introduced another dimension into it as he said it was a common knowledge that his centre is daily dominated by workers who might have taken permission, on false claims, from their various bosses to go for lunch and some other pressing needs  and eventually branch to play ‘odds’ during work hours.

“Most of them smile to the bank on the long run because sports betting is indeed and in truth a realistic game, which gives everyone equal opportunity to become a winner in as much as you can accurately predict matches,” he said.

Why we play?

A corporate gambler, Bello Sulaiman who works along Oba Akran came to forecast at a sports bet centre in Ikosi-ketu. He would not disclose his exact workplace and firm’s identity. He said he took to this form of gambling because of the need to complement his income which he said cannot even take him home, not to talk of the children’s school fees and other utilities that must be taken care of.

Bello said the harsh economic condition in Nigeria is a major cause. According to him, everybody, regardless of the social status one belongs to, plays this game. “It is a game of luck and also a game of certainty with unshaken possible forecast. There are two types of games. While the other one is a normal game where you predict the score line of the football match and you wait till the match is being played and the result ascertained, for voucher, although also involves prediction, the result is seen immediately. I have been sports betting ever since it started. My mouth cannot reveal the large amount of money I had won. Just this last week, I won N78,000. See, the game is the most realistic,” he said.

Another factor Bello alluded to for his interest in sports-betting he said was his passion for sports. He claimed that it would be extremely unwise and not thoughtful of him not to subscribe to sports-betting, having expended huge sum on Pay TV subscription to watch live matches and even pay his way to viewing centres to watch these matches.

A man who simply identified himself as Chukwudi, walked into a sports-betting centre on Awolowo Road, Ikeja, after the close of work on Wednesday. He said his winning overtime is a testament to his motivation towards playing the bet. When asked if he won on that particular day, he angrily said, “So you think I will still be playing if I was not winning”.

How it began

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of value (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning money or material goods.

According to Wikipedia, “Gambling thus requires three elements to be present: consideration, chance and prize. The outcome of the wager is often immediate, such as a single roll of dice, a spin of a roulette wheel, or a horse crossing the finish line. But longer time frames are also common, allowing wagers on the outcome of a future sports contest or even an entire sports season.”

Gambling or betting is as old as the world itself. History has it that during the slave trade era, slave masters wager their slaves to, either compete among themselves in various activities including wrestling, soccer or in clearing farm land. The slave master of the winner will go home with some winning bonuses as the case may be. However, poor economic condition and lack of hope have led many people in Lagos to take up the trade, with the hope of making huge ‘Returns on Investment (ROI)’.

In the 1960s, the trade of sports-betting was common among pensioners and artisans who converged weekly at pooling centres to stake their money on English Premiership football games. Poor technology in those days made it unattractive to the teeming youth because the results of the game would come not later than a week after the matches must have been played and results announced.

However, with the advent of modern technology, the trade has become attractive to the people, cutting across the low class, middle class, the upper class and even the pensioners and clergymen. Corporate gambling also seems to have become prevalent due to the advent of modern technology and poor state of economic conditions in the country.

It is no news anymore that individuals, rich or poor, who work in corporate organisations, stake in lottery, especially sports-bet where odds are being predicted for the outcome of some football matches, during and after work hours. It has now assumed a life of its own, with many unemployed youths and adults leaving their homes every morning; dressed up as if they are going to resume work, but actually leaving home to stake a bet online at a sports-betting centre, with the hope that they will earn their daily bread from the stake. This is, indeed, the new world of corporate wealth.