Betting and sports-related sites dominated the top internet search queries in Kenya in 2018, a new report showed, pointing to a gambling craze in the country.
A massive 11 of the top 20 Google search queries were directly related to betting, according to an annual report for 2019 by Hootsuite and We Are Social.
SportPesa, a leading betting site, emerged at the top of most searched topics. Among the top sports gambling related sites that featured in the list include Livescore (3), Betpawa (5), Betin (7), Prediction (8), Betika (9) and SportPesa Login (10). Others are Forebet (13), Livescore CZ (17), SportPesa Livescore (19) and Games (20).
Also in the top searches were Arsenal (12) and Chelsea (16), both English Premier League teams, another sign of the rising football and gambling craze in the country.
Besides the football and gambling sites, other top Google search queries included Kenya (2), News (4), Facebook (6), Tubidy — a music download site (11) and Gmail (14).
Nation news site was also among the top searched words at number 18.
The report also revealed that betting sites featured prominently in Alexa Website Ranking with Sportpesa.co.ke (9), Betin.co.ke (10), Betpawa.co.ke (17) and 1XBET.co.ke (20) being among the top 20 most visited websites in 2018.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kenya is the third largest gambling market after South Africa and Nigeria respectively in Africa in terms of revenues. However, in terms of participants, Kenya could be ahead of its peers in the region.
Based on a 2017 Geopoll survey, Kenya had the highest number of millennials who take part in sports betting in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
“About 54 percent of youth in SSA have tried their hand at gambling. Kenya has the highest number of youth who have participated in gambling or betting in the past at 76 percent followed by Uganda at 57 percent. Ghana has the least number at 42 percent,” said the 2017 Geopoll Survey on Gambling in the SSA region.
The report noted that while in other countries the frequency of betting was once a month, in Kenya it’s once a week, a sign that young people could becoming gambling addicts.
Further, the Geopoll Survey found that 79 percent of bets placed in Kenya are on football games, making the country the leading in football betting. Majority are placed on English Premier League games, owing to its popularity in Kenya.