• For five years, Martin Karanja was swallowed by an addiction to online gambling that had started as a hobby in campus
• The 28-year-old gambled with his college fees, embezzled his employer’s money, and bet every shilling that crossed his path
• He knew things were bad when he faked his own sister’s death to collect money in the form of condolences to use on betting

Martin Karanja was introduced to sports betting by a friend in 2017, something that started as a harmless hobby.

© Provided by Tuko Nairobi Man Recovering from Gambling Addiction Say He Regrets: “I Lied Using Death to Get Cash” Source: UGC

He says that it was easy to get convinced because the friend kept winning randomly, and he promised him that it was safe if they practised responsible betting.

Once won KSh 37k from KSh 75 bet

In an interview with TUKO.co.ke, the 28-year-old disclosed that he once used KSh 75 to place a multi-bet of 15 games and won KSh 37,000.

It was a developed that sucked him deeper into the world, throwing him into an addiction that would span over five years.

“After winning, I increased the stake up to KSh 1,000 and within two weeks I had finished all the KSh 37,000. Out of the money, I only bought a pair of shoes worth KSh 350, the rest went to betting,” he said.

Karanja says that from that time onwards, he gambled every shilling that crossed his path including his school fees, after which he dropped out of college.

Salary went to betting

Luck, somehow, shone on him as he got a job in Nairobi, but the salary did little for him because it all went to paying rent, buying food, and betting.

“The worst period came when I got into online casinos. You see, I was young and financially illiterate, so I assumed addiction was only with alcohol and drugs,” he continued.

As his life spiralled out of control, Karanja started faking illnesses and funny excuses to hide his addiction.

He had become so good at lying that he went ahead and got married but managed to conceal that side of him from his wife.

Embezzled employer’s real estate funds

After the pandemic period, he went on to get a job in the real estate industry, which meant that he was handling large volumes of money.

“I would take the cash, use it to place bets, then fake receipts. I would bet with more than KSh 10,000 on on-line casino and sport betting per day,” he continued.

The chickens came home to roost when his employer noticed an anomaly in the company accounts and put him under investigation.

That is the time his wife got to know that he was a gambling addict as he was in a deep financial mess and his family couldn’t stand him anymore.

Faked sister’s death for money

When everything he lived for came crashing down in shambles, Karanja realised that it was time for him to make radical changes.

That is the point at which he made the difficult decision to block all his online accounts and start taking virtual gambling meetings.

“I realised that betting will never help. I lost everything in the name of betting, even faked my sister’s death to be given money,” he recalled.

Having sunk to his lowest possible, Karanja says has learnt that gambling needs to be kept in check as it has the potential to ruin someone.