GAMBLE ALERT 2025 SNAPSHOT: Prevention, Research and Treatment 

In 2025, Gamble Alert consolidated its position as Nigeria’s leading responsible gaming and gambling harm response organization, delivering prevention, research, treatment, and industry-facing capacity  building concurrently. The year marked a decisive transition from advocacy-led engagement to systems level intervention, with Gamble Alert increasingly relied upon by regulators, gaming operators, civil  society partners, and individuals experiencing gambling-related harm. 

Across the reporting year, Gamble Alert delivered large-scale youth, community prevention programmes; operated a functioning national clinical and helpline system addressing gambling harm at  scale; convened Nigeria’s first Responsible Gaming Symposium, establishing a national benchmark, expanded regulatory, industry, clinical, and media partnerships; and strengthened internal governance,  data protection, and service delivery capacity. 

This report consolidates verifiable 2025 outputs across Operations, Programmes, Clinical Services, and  Media functions. 

What 2025 Represented 

In 2025, Gamble Alert moved decisively into a systems-response role for gambling harm in Africa. Across  prevention, research, and treatment, the year’s data show not only increased volume of engagement, but clear  behavioural patterns that now allow for more targeted interventions, regulatory insight, and industry  accountability. 

PREVENTION: What the Patterns Are Telling Us 

Reach & Engagement 

• Over 3,000 secondary school students reached directly through underage gambling prevention.
• National youth engagement through NYSC sensitization and community outreach.
• Radio-based prevention on Splash FM and Crest FM, extending reach beyond physical programmes.
• Delivered community and grassroots engagements across Ibadan, Eruwa, and Lalupon.
• A national Responsible Gaming Symposium and press conference convening regulators (Lagos, Oyo, Enugu), operators, clinicians, civil society, health agencies, and persons with lived experience.
• Delivered multiple responsible gaming trainings for gaming operators and frontline staff nationwide,  strengthening early risk identification, referral pathways, and operator-level player protection practices.

What the data tells us 

• Early exposure remains a core risk driver: prevention must start before gambling behaviour becomes  habitual. 
• Media engagement is not supplementary. It is essential for scale, especially where physical access is  limited. 
• Operator training remains a critical prevention lever, as early identification and appropriate referral at  platform level significantly reduce escalation into clinical harm. 
• Public accountability forums signal a shift from “awareness” to shared responsibility across regulators  and industry. 

TREATMENT: What the Clinical Numbers Reveal 

Scale of Support 

• 356 individuals received structured gambling-harm support in 2025. 
• 74% treatment completion rate, indicating that once individuals access care, engagement is strong.
• 500+ responsible gaming calls, alongside 10,000+ non-RG calls, positioning Gamble Alert as a default  distress contact across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Libya 

Risk Profile & Behavioural Insights (from clinical analytics) 

• 93% of patients were male, confirming gendered risk patterns in gambling harm. 
• 38% aged 18 – 25, showing gambling harm is increasingly a youth and young-adult issue. • South-West accounts for the highest concentration of cases, reflecting both market density and access to  services. 
• Virtual betting platforms are a critical risk vector: 
  • 45% heavy virtual-only users 
  • 42% mixed sports + virtual users 
• Virtual games show disproportionate association with high-risk presentations. 

What the data tells us 

• Gambling harm is not evenly distributed; it clusters around specific products, demographics, and usage  patterns. 
• Virtual betting products require heightened regulatory and operator scrutiny. 
• The majority of cases are preventable or containable if early intervention systems are functional.
• Financial distress is central: 64% required financial counselling, and relapse is closely tied to debt  pressure. 

RESEARCH: What the Data Revealed 

School-based evidence (Alimosho, Lagos) 

• 800 students surveyed across four public secondary schools. 
• 35.3% reported involvement in gambling, showing underage gambling is already embedded. • 52.6% aged 13 – 15, confirming gambling risk peaks at early secondary school. 
• 68% of underage gamblers were male; boys were twice as likely to gamble as girls, making gender a key  behavioural predictor. 
• 91.4% had heard of gambling and 96.6% could define it, yet 48% were unaware of gambling harms. • Peer pressure doubled gambling risk: 
  • 53.7% gamble due to peer pressure 
• Advertisement exposure correlates with gambling participation but operates indirectly, reinforcing  behaviour rather than acting alone. 
• Gambling participation rose sharply with environmental exposure (e.g., frequency of errands). 

Community & retail research 

• 200+ retail bettors surveyed in Ibadan on daily betting and harm likelihood. 
• Daily and high-frequency betting showed strong association with risk escalation, particularly on virtual  platforms. 

What the data tells us 

• Underage gambling is a middle-school issue, not a late-teen problem. 
• Knowledge without harm awareness offers no protection. 
• Risk is predictable and clustered around age, gender, peer influence, and exposure, making it preventable  with early, targeted intervention. 

Read Also: GambleAware Calls For Awareness as Gambling Harm and Neurodivergence Intersect

SYSTEM-LEVEL TAKEAWAYS FROM 2025 

• Gambling harm in Nigeria is younger, male-skewed, financially driven, and increasingly platform specific. 
• Prevention, treatment, and regulation cannot operate in silos. 
• Gamble Alert is now functioning as: 
  • a prevention actor, 
  • a clinical safety net, and 
  • a data and accountability intermediary between regulators, operators, and the public. 

2025 IN ONE SENTENCE 

The numbers from 2025 show that gambling harm in Nigeria is becoming more predictable in its patterns, and  that with early prevention, product-specific safeguards, and coordinated accountability, much of the harm is  preventable.

Governance 

The Awareness on Gambling Risk Initiative (Gamble Alert) operates independently under the legal authority of  the Corporate Affairs Commission as a non-profit organization with its Board of Directors and Trustees. Board  members include industry professionals, licensed psychologists, gaming operator executives, and professionals  from non-gaming industries across Nigeria. 

Board Members 

• Professor Peter Olapegba FNPA, fspsp 
• Olabimpe Akingba 
• Veronique DR 
• Oluwafisayo Oke 
• Alberto Cuomo