Gambling activities and Socio- economic development among the Youth in Ggaba Landing Site, Kampala District
Loading...
Date
2017-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kampala International University, Colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences
Abstract
Since the year 2000. the gambling industry in Uganda has experienced a rapid increase in activity, with various
new modes and facilities being introduced. The proliferation of gambling has seen the industry diversify from
the early forms of gambling like casino gambling. Board games and national lotteries to new modes like sports
betting and online betting among other forms. Regarding gambling related tax revenues, the industry has
equally grown at an unprecedented rate, with tax collections growing from UGX 0.24 billion in 2002/3 to
UGX 11.1 billion in 2013/14. While this growth in tax revenue is a welcome development, there is still
considerable concern about the potential for the gambling sector to cause harm in form of addictions, loss of
savings, idleness and increased crime. Hence, as the gambling industry continues to grow in popularity and
prevalence, a well-founded understanding of its operations and socio economic implications is imperative. This
study sought to 1111 this void by investigating three questions: 1) What are the gambling activitiees that impact
on social economic development among the youth in Ggaba landing site? 2) What is level of participation in
gambling industry? 3) What is the relationship between gambling activities and youth level of economic
development in the area of Ggaba landing site? Based on a household survey conducted in Kampala city in
April 2015, we tind that approximately one in every four adults had engaged in some form of gambling in the
twelve months preceding the survey. Age, income, employment status and gender are major determinants in
gambling participation. Additionally, we find that, on average, the poorest in society spend a higher proportion
of their personal income on gambling compared to their richer counterparts. Gambling also has the greatest
displacement effect on household necessities and savings and has to some extent led to problem gambling
especially among the youth who have not established themselves fully to have good living in societies. In
terms of revenue, the percentage contribution of the gambling industry to total revenue is still low (0.15% in
2013/1 ‘I) hut growing. Furthermore, qualitative evidence revealed that many facets of the law relating to
lottery and gaming have become obsolete and are not sensitive to the new modes of gambling and the
unprecedented growth ofthe industry. Similarly, the regulatory body (National Lotteries Board) has substantial
capacity problems and limited statutory powers and is not always able to effectively exercise its mandate
herein inhibiting its ability to comprehensively regulate the gambling industry. On the policy front, we propose
that the public should be protected from over stimulation of latent gambling through limitation of gambling
opportunities: by imposing tighter restrictions on advertising; tighter restrictions on entry into gambling
establishments, based on age; and limitation of opening hours among others. In congruence. parliament should
expedite the passage of the Lottery and Gaming Bill (2013) into law to empower the National Lotteries Board
with more statutory powers and provide a basis for addressing capacity and financial challenges that they
currently face. In line with this, there is a need to minimize the negative social and economic impacts of
gambling by promoting responsible gambling and providing support and counseling to the communities
especially the vulnerable youth case study Ggaba youth who may be very much prone to the negative effects of
gambling.
Description
A Dissertation Submitted in College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the award of Bachelors Degree of Social Work and Social Administration of Kampala International University.
Keywords
Youth, Gambling, Socio- Economic development, Ggaba Landing Site, Kampala District