Gambian government bans sports betting

Banjul - The Gambia has banned gambling, it announced on Monday, denouncing the industry as "exploitative" and saying the government acted to prevent youth from becoming a generation of addicts.

The move will hit gaming centres and casinos across the west African nation's tourist resorts and scores of sports betting shops which have sprung up in recent years in the capital Banjul.

"Gambian society has been built on the foundations of promoting positive social values like thrift and integrity rather than negative ones like greed and avarice," a statement from President Yahya Jammeh's office said.

"Therefore, it is the duty of the Gambia government to safeguard and promote the public welfare of our citizens."

The statement said sports betting and other forms of gambling had recently "mushroomed" and that all lotteries, casinos and other forms of betting were to stop operations with immediate effect.

"One often sees pupils as young as seven years of age lining at kiosks during school hours and spending their lunch money on purchasing sports betting tickets," the presidency said.

"Also, families often go hungry because household incomes are wagered in gambling dens."

Gambians are 95 percent Muslim, and the presidency said Islam and Christianity, the main minority religion, "explicitly or implicitly strictly forbid adherents from engaging in gambling".

"The Gambia government will not allow such unethical and exploitative businesses to operate in the Gambia and will vigorously take all actions to prevent the young of the Gambia from becoming a generation of compulsive and addicted gamblers," it added.

The Gambia, a tourism hotspot of 1.8 million people with an estimated 50,000 annual visitors from Britain alone, has been run with an iron fist since Jammeh came to power in a coup in 1994.

Revenue figures are hard to come by, but gambling is thought to have become a major contributor to the economy, providing jobs and boosting tourist revenues.

The country's main resort, the Senegambia strip near Banjul, is dotted with gaming venues and is home to the country's largest casino, the Kololi, which could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Gambia's only independent daily, The Point, welcomed the move, arguing that "families are shattered, schoolchildren forced to drop out of school, and crime rates (are) increased" because of both legal and illicit gambling.

AFP