THE SPIRIT OF GAMBLING

[Source](https://vtips.info/)

I personally don't have the experience of being a chronic gambler, but I have gambled by staking my lunch, sometimes things like pens and other items. My cousin plays sports betting regularly with applications like Bet9ja and SportyBet, sometimes switching to BetKing and other platforms.

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He bets every day to the extent that he will lie to me to fund his account whenever he exhausts his money. Most days we work at the same site. Since he is skilled at the job, he is paid more on a daily basis. After the job, I might be receiving 3,000 naira while he pockets 5,000 to 6,000 naira. All in the name of betting, my cousin will go to the bet shop and stake 3,000 naira on sports betting. That isn’t enough for him, so he will start to play virtual games with the hope of recovering the money he staked. Some days he wins, while most days he comes back with just 500 naira. On days when he controls himself, he comes back with 1,000 or 1,500 naira.

It got to the point that my cousin became an addict. He gets mad whenever he doesn’t have money to bet. Some days, he starts looking for things like iron or heavy metal in my boss's house to sell just to be able to bet. Many times, I tried to talk him out of it, but he did it regardless whenever I wasn’t looking. Despite his high pay, he is in debt to a lot of food vendors and individuals he borrowed from to bet. I’ve been embarrassed many times by people he owes, asking me to pay since he’s my brother. Sometimes I pay if the situation is about to get out of hand, while other times I tell them I’m not responsible, as I wasn’t there when the transaction was made.

The most annoying part is that he goes to some food vendors who know me well and buys food in my name. When I get there, they present a huge sum of money I supposedly owe. I had to go around warning all of them not to sell anything to him in my name. This continued until I quit working with him.

I feel that what made my cousin this way is the fact that he is the first son and unable to support his mother, especially since his father is late, and his siblings are doing better in life than he is.

To this day, my cousin still gambles heavily. If I call, he tells me he has stopped, but he hasn’t. A friend and I have tried to stop him to no avail. We even traveled to meet him in the village where he decided to stay to do whatever he wanted without anyone telling him to stop. But even with that sacrifice, our efforts weren’t appreciated for long.

I wouldn’t advise anyone to gamble, because when the habit kicks in, it invites other negative traits like greed, selfishness, and manipulative behavior. Many people have become rich from gambling and did so responsibly, but I guess it’s not for everyone. Many others have sunk into poverty because of the same gambling.

This post was in respect to cleanplanet sixth bi-weekly prompt organized by @nwothini335 in partnership with inleo. Join the contest by clicking on the link