Online Reporter
A FEMALE punter collapsed and died inside a betting house in Bulawayo’s CBD yesterday.
Josephine Makiwa, of Mpopoma, was 41.
Police said she started vomiting, just before she placed her bet, and house in the Central Business District of Bulawayo, after she reportedly started vomiting, before placing her bet, and then died inside the shop.
Her death comes just days after a 20-year-old man took his life in Dzivarasekwa Extension after suffering significant losses in the gambling game, widely known as KANDEGE.
Ashley Patrick Magarira is said to have committed suicide after losing US$800, which was meant for his brother’s school fees, in the gambling game called Aviator.
Developed by Spribe, it is an online game that has gained popularity across the globe.
It is a social multiplayer game where players place bets on a plane that takes off and flies higher and higher.
A multiplier counter starts as soon as the plane sets off, beginning from 1x and incrementing as time goes on.
Although the plane flies indefinitely, it can still fly off at any time, and players must cash out their bets before that happens.
There is no telling when the plane will fly off.
Kandege claimed its first casualty last year when a Gweru police officer committed suicide after losing borrowed money chasing his sports betting dream.
Claude Jele downed an unidentified poison shortly after penning a suicide note.
Sources told H-Metro Jele had lost US$3000, which he had borrowed, by the time he took his life.
However, statistics show that this is not only limited to Zimbabwe.
OTHER SUICIDE CASES
OLIVER LONG, UK
Oliver Long, 36, was found dead in East Sussex, UK, on February 23 last year after a battle with a gambling addiction.
Long had been diagnosed with a “severe gambling addiction.”
DANIEL CONDZI, ESWATINI
In November last year, a priest in Eswatini took his own life after losing about US$315 in gambling.
Daniel Cindzi had received about US$2522 as his share from the sale of a house, after his wife’s death, and decided to try his luck by gambling US$315.
Cindzi’s body was discovered by his daughter, Ayanda.
HUKWUMA ONOH, NIGERIA
In December 2023, a 31-year-old man, Chukwuma Onoh, committed suicide in Abia State, south east Nigeria, after losing N2.5 million in an online bet.
He had borrowed N1.2 million from friends.
“The only option is to end my life as I cannot live with the shame. I have turned into a gambler because of no job, and right now, I am at a point if I don’t redeem my debt, I might kill myself to pay the debt,” he said in a WhatsApp message sent before he killed himself.
YOO CHOI, CANADA
In 2011, a woman killed herself after running up more than a US$100,000 in debt at a downtown Vancouver casino.
Yoo Choi once owned Velvet Café on Broadway in Vancouver.
But, according to her husband Mark Dawson, Choi had a secret and compulsive gambling habit which she battled for years to kick.
Her body was found floating in Lynn Canyon on Vancouver’s North Shore.
KYLE HUDSON, AUSTRALIA
Last year, Kyle Hudson, a 22-year-old Australian took his life shortly after losing two bets worth more than A$6000.
BILL TROSHUPA, UK
In October 2021, Bill Troshupa killed himself in front of his 16-year-old son after running up gambling debts in excess of £250,000 in Essex England.
He was 53.
A former maths prodigy in his native Kosovo, who later studied medicine for two years, he lost his way in the betting industry by betting 12 hours a day through the pandemic.
His marriage broke down and his widow Julie Martin said his gambling habits swallowed up to £1million.
She said her husband’s refusal to acknowledge his problem and seek help meant he became increasingly locked in a vicious betting cycle, mounting up huge debts and eventually turning violent.
KENNY MCKINLEY, USA
Even professional athletes, who are well paid, fall into this vicious trap.
Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley had a gambling problem and was deep in debt when he committed suicide on September 21, 2010.
Friends and family told authorities during a probe into his death. McKinley committed suicide with a gun he had purchased months before from teammate Jabar Gaffney.
Detectives also determined that McKinley had spoken about suicide with at least three of his friends, including former Broncos backup quarterback Tom Brandstater.
Brandstater told investigators he had lent McKinley US$65,000 and that McKinley owed US$40,000 in casino markers in Las Vegas.
KEY NOTES
By the time they seek help‚ about 22 percent of problem gamblers would have attempted suicide and 52 percent would be thinking of committing suicide‚ the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation said.
Their findings were released after a man doused himself with petrol and set himself alight at Montecasino in Fourways‚ Johannesburg. — H-Metro Reporter/Agencies
