The young are known for their love of among other things, beer. Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) has, however, that there are three things that the youth love more than their bottle.
Kenya Breweries Ltd (KBL) Managing Director (MD), Jane Karuku, indicated that the youth spend their money primarily on food - a basic need.
The second priority in the expenditure list is airtime which may be informed by internet browsing and mobile communication needs.
Karuku noted that gambling takes third position as a priority expense among the youth.
"Betting is a serious competitor. When you walk into any shopping centre, the proportion of betting shops is probably the highest and when youth get in, there will be a betting shop then bar," she noted.
According to Karuku, sports betting has become a major pastime as the youth try to enrich themselves fast.
"The frequency of how these people spend time is more on the betting because it has been glorified as a get-rich-quick investment," Karuku stated.
The MD was speaking at KBL's headquarters in Ruaka where she held a media briefing.
Her sentiments on how people below 35 years are increasingly spending their disposable income on betting craze reflect a concern earlier raised by Interior ministry Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.
CS Matiang'i had alleged that an estimated 500,000 youth have been blacklisted by lending firms after they borrowed for gambling and lost.
KBL is the second firm to identify betting as a key competitor the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) raised a similar concern in 2017.
According to CMA, gambling was part of the reason why young people were not investing in shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
