A LUCKY KENYAN gambler won a record-breaking 230 million shilling (€1.8m) sports betting jackpot, thanks to an English Premier League goal from fellow countryman Victor Wanyama of Tottenham Hotspur.
Gordon Opiyo, a 31-year-old shopkeeper in Nairobi’s sprawling, poor Kibera neighbourhood, took home the biggest jackpot in Kenyan history after correctly guessing the outcome of 17 matches in different European leagues.
The final prediction that sealed his good fortune was Sunday’s 2-2 draw between Spurs and Liverpool, in which midfielder and Kenyan captain Wanyama scored the first equaliser at Anfield to keep Tottenham — and Opiyo — in contention.
“I was happy when the Kenyan national football team captain Victor Wanyama and Harry Kane scored the two equalising goals for Tottenham in the dying minutes of the second half,” said Opiyo. ”I had stopped watching the game when Liverpool went one up.”
The giant jackpot was paid out by Kenyan betting firm SportPesa. Last May the company paid another jackpot worth 221 million shillings.
Smartphones have brought sports betting to a new generation of Kenyans, with SportPesa leading the charge.
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