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Betting Centres Needs Regulation- NCCE Chairperson

• By Anita Addy
• November 22, 2021
• 0

The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ms Josephine Nkrumah, has called for stringent regulation, supervision and monitoring of betting centres across the country.

To her, this would help to address the issue related to the increasing number of youngsters gradually becoming addicts because of the lack of effective supervision and monitoring.
 
She added that the growing addiction of young people to betting and video games is becoming a complex issue which needs to be addressed at the national level by all stakeholders.

“All manner of betting centres dotted in every part of the country depict bad signals to us as a people, especially in a situation whereby the nation has allowed betting companies to operate without effective systems in place to regulate their activities,” she said.

Sharing her concerns on indiscipline among the youth in recent times in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Ms Nkrumah reiterated that bad influences picked from the Internet, coupled with other social vices such as the involvement of young people in betting to make quick money, had desensitised them to the extent that “they think their wrong attitudes were the right way of expressing themselves.
 
‘‘On one of our of visits to basic schools during our Citizenship Week, a teacher complained about how some of the school children were prepared to go hungry and use their money for lunch to bet. Some even borrow to go and bet,’’ she lamented.

Ms Nkrumah also posited  that children of the present generation did not think that hard work paid and always looked out for an easy way to make quick money.

“So while there are no controls on what these young people watch and do, the influences on them become more adverse”

The NCCE Boss said it was quite unfortunate that operators of betting centres had allowed youngsters in their tender ages - 9, 10, 11 and 12 to engage in betting, although the law allowed for persons who were 18 years and above.

Source: Anita Addy