Background: Gambling is common in Tanzania and over the years has gained wide acceptability among the people. Improved technology and legalization of gambling have led to increased gambling opportunities among young people. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice towards online betting and its effects among a sample of university students in Tanzania
Methodology: This was a cross sectional study conducted among 316 university students in Tanzania. Social - demographic data and other information were obtained by using a pre-tested semi structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned and analyzed by SPSS v. 20 software. Descriptive statistics including frequency was used to summarize participant’s baseline social demographic data. For categorical variables the relationship between sex, age, course and year of study, marital status, and knowledge, attitudes and practices were determined using chi-square statistics at P<0.05 level of significance.
Results: The findings revealed about 96.8% (306/316) of the participants claimed to witness online advertisement about betting. Results revealed that 57.3% (181/316) participants have engaged themselves in online betting, and mostly in sports betting on actual games about 88.9% of them. The results showed that 65.1% (205/316) had poor knowledge according to knowledge towards gambling scoring system compared to 34.9% (111/316) who had adequate knowledge. Also the results revealed that 76.2% (240/316) had negative attitude towards online gambling according to ATGS compared to 23.8% (76/316). Among the participants had evidence of problem gambling.
Conclusion: Majority had poor knowledge and negative attitude towards online betting. Betting was common among male students. Provision of education about psychosocial consequences of online betting is needed in universities in Tanzania.