GAME OF HOPE (2010)
Football betting pools, a cultural import from 1920s Britain, are popular in Nigeria among the elderly, retired workers, and the unemployed. Gamblers risk their money on their ability to forecast the results of 49 league matches played across all divisions of the English Football League. The matches are detailed on coupon sheets.
The promoters of these football pools are mostly Lebanese or Syrian immigrants who operate with licenses issued by the Nigerian federal government. Pool agents are the link between the promoters and bettors. They are always Nigerian.
Pool houses can be found everywhere in Nigeria. Gamblers arrive at the crack of dawn and often stay until dark, in the hope of winning the jackpot of up to 400, 000 Naira - the equivalent of the average annual wage among workers in Nigeria.
According to one pool agent, Akinode Adikole, “Pool is a business of luck. When you win you rejoice, when you lose you are sad and you accept your fate”. The successful businessman has had his fair share of luck, enabling him to rent a house and buy a TV, Hi-fi system, and various other possessions.
However, most betting men walk away empty-handed and console themselves in the company of friends who gather at the pool houses to play card games, draughts, and Ayo (a Yoruba board game).
