Remember Kamare? The nuisance game of chance that used to be so popular in the estates? It was a headache to most parents and the security agencies. Its operators would station themselves at a strategic corner of a street or an estate with a carton, place some cards and ask people to bet which cards will be picked to win some cash.
Now, what most of its fans did not know is that those cards were often a fraud, tampered with by the controller of the game, mostly a trickster. Groups of young men and women would hurdle in a corner seeking to make quick cash, unknown to them that they were part of a con game.
Kamare was a nightmare to police, parents and the society. I am glad to speak about it in the past tense, even though I know it’s not completely stamped out.
Its popularity has waned thanks to the emergence of sports betting companies. There is need for a sober debate on this issue. Just like alcohol, sports betting is all about entertainment. Most people who are busy vilifying sports betting companies are yet to look at how these companies have helped clear underground gambling. This is a vice the country would not want to deal with, ask India. The Asian country is currently working on ways to legalise sports betting after dealing with one too many cases of underground gambling;
Kamare style et al.
What I mostly read in papers from people speaking out against betting companies is that most of them are basing their arguments on hearsay. Patrick Gathara, a columnist with the Star, on Friday quoted a non-industry source – Moses Kemibaro - alleging one betting company rakes in Sh300 million a month.
He further adds that a GeoPoll survey shows Kenya has the highest number of youths who gamble. Gathara, in his uninformed bashing of sports betting, selectively leaves out the facts from the same GeoPoll survey, which states Kenyan youth spend more money in self grooming, investment and entertainment than they do on gambling. The debate on the true effects of gambling is being based on uninformed, unsupported figures for reasons only known to those who steer this unfairness.
The GeoPoll survey Gathara quotes shows that Kenyan youth spend 55 per cent of their income on personal care, invest 26 per cent of their earnings, spend six per cent on entertainment and five per cent on gambling.
The sports betting industry is a nascent industry that has streamlined gaming in the country and that is a fact. When alcohol drinks became expensive, Kenya grappled with illicit brews, which led to hundreds of deaths. Brewers are now making alcohol for each market segment, hence deaths related to illicit liquor are nearly unheard of these days.
When was the last time you spotted a Kamare agent in town or in your estate? We have got to give it to these gaming companies. If they are driven out of business prepare to see the re-emergence of Kamare and the likes.
These companies are now heavily taxed, levies no business can sustain. Theirs is a business with its legion of fans whom we cannot wish away just like alcohol partakers. People took their time to come up with the strategies and systems to set up these entertainment ventures. To ask these same businesses to continue sponsoring sports, which by the way they have helped dignify in the last few years of their existence, is asking them for too much.
They have played their part in developing sports to the best of their ability, even when they were not obligated to. Let us learn to accommodate other people’s passions in this society. Different strokes for different folks!