BETTING HAS LED TO DIVIDED LOYALTY IN FOOTBALL

March fixing and addiction to betting are a threat to loyalty for football despite the emmence contributions that the fast growing betting industry has brought to the sport. 

Die hard fans are soon fading away since most lovers of the sport are quickly shifting to being commercial spectators of the game.

Addiction for gambling has shifted the attention of fans from the love the game to a focus on what they can earn from it. Geo poll research report indicated that 54% of the youth in sub saharan have ever tried to bet with Kenya leading with 74% , followed by Uganda at 57% and  Ghana came at 42%.

Kenya is one of the nations that has been hit by this worst menace. The frequency of gambling in kenya high since most people bet once a month  compared to other nations like south Africa where people once a month .

There is divided  loyalty for teams evidenced by arguments by fans before matches about which team  has more odds or less instead of defending the teams they support.

With most team's branded logo's of betting companies on their shirts  this has solved the challenge of sponsorship issues that the kenyan clubs faced such as inability to pay for flight tickets and  boycott of players dues to delayed salaries  payments.

Match fixing shift from traditionally bribing referees to players has worsened the matter since people supposed to protect the integrity of their profession are putting it at risk.

What has contributed the players indulging in this matter is due their low salaries compared to the promise they get from the cartels.

Support for the local football is soon fading if the recent allegations against kenyan premia league players alleged to have been involved in the sports betting is not looked into with a lot of caution.

March fixing is not only  a local problem is not only a local problem but also an international challenge.

"We reckon that around 300 games a year are fixed in Europe," says Darren Small, director of integrity at Sportradar, a company that monitors more than 30,000 games across Europe for signs of betting patterns that may indicate a game is fixed.

Strict measures should be put in place to curb this challenge since match fixing is likened to corruption and terrorism. The government should  enact laws that will help deal with this evil that has threatened football as a game.