[kictanet] Parliamentary Committee on Sports Betting

Sat Aug 6 07:30:37 EAT 2016

Whatever happened to the Charity Sweepstakes? 

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Charity-Sweepstake-loses-out-to-SMS-/1056-1057480-6usbe7/index.html

Let's not garnish this issue. What's happening in Kenya and Africa is that we have bred a generation with a 'get-rich-quick' mindset which feeds the gambling industry. And I mean gambling here NOT gaming.

We need to be clear about differentiating 'Gaming' and 'Gambling'.

Gaming: The playing of a game or games, including but not limited to video games and games of chance..

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/gaming

Gambling: is the wagering of money or something of value (referred to as "the stakes") on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Gambling thus requires three elements be present: consideration, chance and prize. The outcome of the wager is often immediate, such as a single roll of dice or a spin of a roulette wheel, but longer time frames are also common, allowing wagers on the outcome of a future sports contest or even an entire sports season.

What I actually find super disturbing is the now common 'acceptance' of the interchange of the words gambling and gaming. 

See Wikipedia on the issue below.

The term gaming in this context typically refers to instances in which the activity has been specifically permitted by law. The two words are not mutually exclusive; i.e., a "gaming" company offers (legal) "gambling" activities to the public and may be regulated by one of many gaming control boards, for example, the Nevada Gaming Control Board. However, this distinction is not universally observed in the English-speaking world. For instance, in the UK, the regulator of gambling activities is called the Gambling Commission (not the Gaming Commission). The word gaming is used more frequently since the rise of Computer and Video Games to describe activities that do not necessarily involve wagering, especially Online Gaming, with the new usage still not having displaced the old usage as the primary definition in common dictionaries.

We need to get back to the Charity Sweepstakes era. Period. Society depends on it.

In my humble opinion there cannot be any comparison to what the ICT Industry is doing and what the Gambling Industry is doing. It's like saying cyber theft is innovative because the perpetrators are using ICT. 

Leta wake up and smell the coffee. 

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
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Twitter: @AliHKassim
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"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi

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> On 5 Aug 2016, at 10:22 PM, Rosemary Koech-Kimwatu via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
> 
> The betting fraternity has benefited heavily from the fairly lax regulatory regime and have failed to make considerations on handling the effects that come as a result of the business,
> 
> They have only one option and that is to figure out how they will guide the discussion on how they will be regulated.
> 
> A few months ago they had the option of self regulating, but now the legislators have taken the lead.
> 
> They may soon find themselves in the same boat as the ICT fraternity is in today, trying to fire hose a faulty proposed regulation I.e the ICT practitioners bill.
> 
> It is agreed that there is a need to tame the gambling beast but it may be important to protect the innovations that have made their "success" possible. It may help the country if proposed regulation would ensure that the revenues earned from the industry are used for greater public good than is currently being felt, this may be the the only silver lining out of this cloud.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rosemary Koech-Kimwatu
> 
> 
>> On 5 Aug 2016 16:00, "James Mbugua via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>> From an ICT perspective,
>> 
>> Safaricom should be asked to switch off their short codes for these betting firms.
>> 
>> JG
>> 
>>> On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 3:53 PM, Timothy- Coach- Oriedo via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Gamification. it's amazing how the debate around gambling has chosen to focus on monetary gains, addiction and other associative proclivities. How would one for instance compare sports gambling with pokemon? There are accounts of an individual who racked a bill of $4,954 a Japanese gymnast in Rio thanks to Pokemon Go... Catch ‘em all or go broke tryin.
>>> 
>>> For me they are both innovations riding on two precincts, one a supporting infrastructure - mobile and two consumers psychographics. Much needs to be done to support and ensure the government benefits from a fiscal  angle of such innovations. I welcome parliamentary committee move to seek to understand the gamification phenomenon but ask it to be careful not put duress the sports betting firms that might lead to the firms contributing to there campaign kitty's to assuage tinkering of policies to their advantage.
>>> 
>>> Your thoughts from an ICT perspective?
>>> 
>>> Tim
>>> 
>>> 
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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