Daily Monitor page 14 of Monday July 28, 2025, screamed lauder than any other page in the paper. “The growing betting economy: From Shs 500bn to Shs 8 trillion,” it read.
These are staggering numbers. In another industry, such growth would be worth popping champagne. Instead, it points to a crisis that is problem gambling in Uganda. It should alarm all of us.
It is a crisis that is very visible on our way to work, to school, to church, and to the market. It is visible in our social media feeds, and in schools. Look around your community and you will notice that the biggest building in your trading centre is neither occupied by a supermarket nor by a mini-manufacturing firm. A betting firm occupies it.
Gambling houses sell false hope, a sense of optimism that you will gain when you try again. One gambling programmer told a BBC Africa Eye documentary, Gamblers Like Me, that you can only make money in gambling if you are the owner and to a small extent an employee of the firm. Gambling platforms are designed in such a way that you win just enough to either keep you coming back or raise your appetite to stake more.
Gambling houses are strategically located in needy communities or vulnerable populations such as schools and low-income neighbourhoods. Take a quick scan around Kampala, you will find many situated in Katwe, Makindye, Wandegeya, Kalerwe, among others. One or two casinos will be situated in Kololo or Nakasero.
A study by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) found that, on average, the poorest in society spend a higher proportion of their personal income on gambling compared to their richer counterparts. The vice has the greatest displacement effect on household necessities and savings. Someone would rather buy a betting ticket than spend on food, save, or buy soap. The study, which looked at the extent of gambling in Kampala, also found that three quarters (73%) of gamblers did so to make money, and not for leisure which should have been ideal.
Read the EPRC report on the Socio-Economic Effects of Gambling: Evidence from Kampala City, Uganda
The consequences of gambling in the hope of making money have been calamitous. The BBC documentary, Gamblers like me, recounts a story of Mathius, a student at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), who killed himself after he bet and lost his tuition. His story is just a portrait of many that end up in death directly or indirectly linked to gambling. A google search of deaths linked to gambling in Uganda returns tens of results from all-over the country of individual cases of those that have taken their lives after losing money in bets. And a 2022 study on gambling-related suicide in East African Community countries ranked Uganda second to Kenya on having the highest number of deaths by suicide because of gambling.
Hundreds of young people spend tens of hours of their valuable time in search of winning bets, impacting their mental health when they come out with nothing – usually the most likely outcome. Families are breaking and property sold off to quench gambling thirsty. The World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association have classified gambling as a disorder that needs special attention.
Gambling has been classified as a disorder that needs attention, according to WHO
The National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB) has its work cut out. First, it should keep up with the pace of a rapidly growing and changing industry. For instance, promotion has moved away from traditional media to virtual platforms. Hundreds of skits endorsing gambling and targeting young people, with unrealistic promises, are posted on platforms such as TikTok and X daily. These feature favourite comedians, musicians, and sports journalists. The regulator must find a way to ensure that such content stresses responsible gambling.
A sizeable portion of the money earned as taxes from gambling should be re-invested in community initiatives for mental health, addiction recovery, and mass sensitisation about the dangers of gambling. Betting houses should never be allowed to set up shop near vulnerable communities such as schools to prevent minors from engaging in such activities.
Gambling takes away from us. It impoverishes and finally kills us. The growth numbers declared are but a picture of a crisis that calls for soul searching. Gambling sucks from pockets of vulnerable Ugandans into the pockets of rich owners of gaming firms cocooned somewhere in tax havens in Guam and Virgin Islands. We must collectively fight against this crisis.
This article was first published by the Daily Monitor on August 1, 2025
Featured photos credit: Global Press Journal and Daily Monitor
