A GAME OF NUMBERS


Monday is a special day for adherents of Monday Special Lotto as they scurry round the gamer and his machine for the latest numbers he has received from the head office via his machine with the dominant red hue. Some win while others lose, but the allure of easy money ensures they will still play another day. In fact, everyday is ambivalent for the diligent patron as a good eye for numbers might spell Christmas or Armageddon.
The agent is a smooth talker and explains to me that for a paltry sum of ten naira, I can win some lunch money. This amount increases to 12,000 if I can spare fifty naira. All I need to do is get a minimum of three numbers correctly if I play direct mode or its alternative. Such promises are not rare as they stimulate an urge to play the lottery as it is fondly called.
Despite the array of games available, most players fit them all under the Baba Ijebu tag which is handled under the Premier Lotto stable, just like Maggi seasoning, Macleans Toothpaste and Lipton tea which have become the generic terms for other brands of similar products.
Besides being synonymous with a popular lotto, the Baba Ijebu term also exudes the stinginess akin to the game. Most players associate the name with Kessington Bukola Adebutu, the sweepstakes magnate and owner of the Premier Lotto which also handles a sizeable number of Nigerian and Ghanaian lotteries. Located on Western Avenue, the corporate firm is a Mecca of all sorts for agents who spread the lottery gospel and winners who prefer to take their winnings there. The edifice boasts all the trappings of a contemporary establishment with a sizeable workforce that is busy with the daily routine, just like it is overseas. Sadly, a long list of meetings for those I need to see ensure I have to fix an appointment for another day, but triggers a wish that the uniformity of the lottery’s head office would spread to the players, as most are deemed as the scum of society. But Baba Ijebu is anyone and everyone who can afford to play, just like it is elsewhere. Agents are ubiquitous and their take from daily sales is 15 percent, a cut an Apapa-based agent describes as a meagre amount that is not enough to exist on even though the work is a form of employment.
“The money is not something tangible. If it were, I would have a stall and might not be one of those playing it, but what can a man do? Dare laments.
If Baba Ijebu had not been a non-living brand, it might have qualified for Nigerian man of the year a number of times due to its popularity which has also seen some musicians even croon tunes in its honour. Acolytes throng cubicles daily to pay homage by casting a sacrifice of numbers that promise quick rewards. Such obedience is uncanny and has become a way of life for many despite their claims that the lottery’s fist is tighter than that of a corpse. This is expected as it favours or breaks the best. Other recycled tales about the lottery’s perpetual winners are also a commodity peddled alongside a weird allegiance to the ritual of numbers. Imagine your bus ride being interrupted when the conductor suddenly holds up the journey by lying to his passengers that he wants to source for change, only for him to quickly play some numbers he got from another conductor he met on his route.
Such solidarity is also peculiar to the game as word-of-mouth spreads so-called “sure numbers” among adherents of the game of chance. With the ubiquity of stalls, players do not undergo much stress as agents are everywhere. Red machines powered by batteries are a common sight. Such scenes, alongside tales of recent wins of outrageous sums of money stoke the embers of addiction that has taken adults and children in its wake.
Amidst the glaring reality of the gambler’s rule which states that “the house always wins”, most still retain a strange hope of hitting big. Critics tag it a distraction, but for an unrepentant player like my vendor, it is just a plan B in an uncertain society.
“It is a way of keeping my options open and earning more cash,” he says while unearthing a pile of tickets from his pocket. He explains that playing daily with 50 naira is a negligible amount compared to the total profit he makes from sales, and his line of thinking is in sync with that of other players who feel it is a form of escapism from the credit crunch.
One consequence of the growing interest in lotteries is the relegation of pools and the business of fixed odds to the sidelines as the whole idea of selecting a bore draw from a medley of leagues takes the stuffing out of the whole process of numbers. The profit margin is also small compared to what the lotto can bring.
“The money is better than pool, and you don’t share the money with anyone,” claims another player who spoke on a condition of anonymity. “You bear your risks alone and can even source numbers, collate them and strike lucky. There was once I was coming from Isolo and got numbers off a car’s number plate which won me a large sum.” A lottery agent also claims to have struck it big by playing with a factory address in Apapa once. But these are some of the lucky strikes in a pool of humorous tales on attempts at replicating. And most interviewed players admit that their subsequent wins are not really like the first one.
“On a certain day someone came with two numbers he claimed were sure winners. I was not sure they were real so I played with ten naira and won almost 3,000 naira. I was scared stupid and regretted because some school kids played the same numbers with 50 Naira each and went home 12,000 Naira each,” added another player.
It all sounds so easy to choose numbers, but it is hard business as a wrong combination deals a crunching blow to a die-hard player. Since there is no Paul the Octopus to guide lotto lovers, the chart remains an indelible tool of any unrepentant lotto follower. The importance of the sheet is not toyed with as it is even stolen from owners. A popular one is a Ghanaian import with prediction charts for all games played on Nigerian soil as well as previous winning numbers from Adebutu’s, Golden Chance and the Ghanaian lotto. Their documentation of digits for every week from 1962 till date give a whiff of the arithmetic which relies on a sequence of occurred digits for future forecasts. According to the owner of a paper I peruse, certain numbers go in tandem, making it rare for one not to occur without the other. “For instance if 60 played to the centre in 1970, based on that observation and reoccurrences, of numbers which followed it that year, you can be certain to some extent that it might happen in the future,” he says. “There are also many plans and counting weeks, but one thing that remains definite are re-occurring orders of certain numbers.”
Classified as events, these synonymous digits are followed closely as a correct prediction attracts some extra cash for a cash-strapped pocket. A player can also choose to go direct or otherwise. Going direct starts with a minimum of two selected digits and each number fetches a particular sum. You could even go three-direct or more, and the more correct your numbers are, the wider your earnings. The other mode includes selecting six numbers based on the player’s discretion, and the more your selected numbers occur after the roll, the more your earnings.
But each number has a counter which can derail the road to fortune. With ninety numbers in ascending order, the first one to 45 digits are followed closely by another group of numbers 46 to 90. A number from any group acts as a counter when the numbers are being rolled at the head office, so if you are hoping for the number one, you might get a 46 or any other number stalling your flow. A brain-racking process of permutation follows, but it is enjoyable once you have a keen sense for numbers.
“It is very easy for me since I’m good at maths,” adds another source with a chart adorning the wall of his bedroom. “There are ways you can notify yourself once you follow weekly occurrences. Some even have what you call hot cakes, I recall an episode where the touted numbers were 15 and 51, a certain fellow crooned it from Oshodi to Shogunle and the agents went into debt that week because the numbers gave hints of what the octopus did at the 2010 World Cup.”
Such dreaded events are signs for agent to scamper as it is preferable for winners to go to the head office to claim their winnings. Other reasons to go into hiding are inspired by a customer losing his head, but amidst the tales of agents absconding with winnings, there exists some level of trust between owners of the lottery, their agents and regular players.
With the lotteries assuming a religious dimension, juvenile betters are also a common sight as they have started young, a pitiable angle to the whole game.
“It has helped curb some menacing events in society,” adds Deji, another disciple of the lottery, but the bad side to it are the kids who manage to play. There should be an age restriction to it really.”
Compulsive gambling is a worry though as Helpguide.Org describes it as an impulse-control disorder which sufferers are powerless to control despite the hurt it might bring to their pockets and loved ones. But it is not really a problem once the person involved can afford to play daily. There is also a loss of time as a bad manager of time will see valuable periods that should be spent building and sustaining relationships frittered away when he focuses on the lottery. “It is so infectious that you keep coming back,” added a veteran of the process. The sensible ones turn the money over but most don’t know when to draw the line. Just imagine a crucial game day coinciding with an important election. I am sure most Lagosians who play might not be sure whether to play the lottery or come to vote.” That remains to be seen, but amidst all the ambivalent comments, the lottery still has the noblest of intentions.