South African Students Using NSFAS Funds for Gambling, Officials Concerned

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has shown concern over South African students spending their allowance, meant for food and essentials on sports betting.

SOUTH AFRICAN STUDENTS SPEND TAXPAYER MONEY ON SPORTSBETTING

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has partnered with the National Gambling Board (NGB) after their increased concern over South African students spending their allowance on gambling. The collaboration aims to protect students from the harm that comes with betting and gambling.

National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) helps students pay for their studies, textbooks and essentials while in university. This money comes from the South African government, specifically through the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). 

So, this is essentially taxpayer money. This collaboration highlights the issue of students gambling money meant for essentials.

Siphumelele Zondi, multimedia lecturer at Durban University of Technology says that sports betting has become a popular gambling method amongst students because of how easily accessible this is for anybody with a mobile device.

“Students are already downloading these apps and they are using them to bet on sports online and the reason for that is that it is not pitched to them as betting or gambling. So, they think it’s harmless because they watch sports everyday. They might think they can make a little bit of money playing a game in a way because that’s how they would see it online, even though it is not a game, it is gambling,” Zondi told SportsBoom.co.za in an exclusive interview. 

“It is what people used to do when they went to spaces where they could bet on horses in the past,” said Multimedia lecturer, Durban University of Technology.”

“Also, for them, because it is a device they are holding everyday doing many other things, it doesn’t seem as dangerous as let’s say going to a casino. It’s the same device that you use when scrolling on social media platforms for example. So, for them it’s just moving from one app to another and it’s easy.”

STUDENT MAKES AND LOSES R4000

Zondi also shared a first hand experience of a student who won R4000 through online sports betting. However, the student, filled with hope, soon parted with the R4000 after believing he could potentially double that amount.

“I know of a student who won R4000, I’m not sure how much that student would have put in to win R4000. After winning R4000, the entire amount went back in and he received nothing in the end. Because there was hope that he won this R4000. So, he might think that he might even double that and come back with R8000 or more money. It didn’t quite happen that way. He lost all the money that he had won in the end, by doing so.”

Zondi emphasised that this is common when gambling, once you start winning you continue to have higher hopes and do not realise how much you lose.

“That’s the challenge with gambling, when you start winning, and it may play on your psyche, you might think that you’ll always win. You might want to put money in until you win again and you wouldn’t realise that you spent all this money because you have this hope that you will win again… so yes, I’ve seen it.”