Ready to win?
Have you ever called the morning radio show by Maina Kageni about the mystery noise? Winning on such shows is not easy, let take example of the noise currently on the show which Maina claimed to have gotten somewhere in Moi avenue. Going with the clues they give, you would expect that someone would win it easily but naah..that is not the case. What really amazed me is the fact that two different people with completely opposite answers will earn the Maina’s trademark comments of “I like your thinking, continue in that direction” or “You are very close, keep on calling” The call charges are so high above the normal rates and the keep on calling encouragement by Maina is meant to get deep into your pocket. Well if you are lucky enough to win, the feeling is great but before that bewarned. The same applies to many call and win radio and TV promotions, i once watched a show in KBC called GAME..the presenter would ask a simple question which at a glace the person with the lowest IQ in the republic would get the answer instantly. But the trick is, they ensure it takes two days before they accept that someone has gotten the answer right . If you call, they will do their best to ensure that your call goes through but get frustrated in between, by leaving you hanging somewhere as long as possible and meanwhile Safaricom or Zain are busy doing what they know best.
By the way not all these games if i may be allowed to use that term by radio stations are in that extreme end . I remember the Zain man, where the listeners had to identify the Zain man on a crowded neighborhood. This was purely based on listening to the Classic105 and knowing where the Zain man would be. If you were lucky to identify him correctly by calling him Zain man you were legible to win a certain amount of money( substantial amount i would say). Now that sounds to me like a reward system, I suppose sponsored by Zain and advertised through Classic105
The Corporate bodies have not been left behind, they have come up with several promotions which by all intent and purposes meant to be called reward system but looking at them critically might not pass that test. Think of Wahi Kuwahi, Bambika na Tusker, Lipua Mamilioni. People will participate on all these with the aim of winning, and before you win you must give out something. The dark side of it is that, chances of winning is one every total breathing souls in Kenya. So the question is, is this a high tech gambling or what? With that in mind i had to go to the directionary to find out what by deefinition such process would be.
According to Wekipidia Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period. Am not saying that what is going on is gambling, but i am in the loose looking for the right term for what is going on. I turned my attention to pyramid and ponzi schemes which many Kenyans remember very well. Again what i found out does not fit well with what is going on and so i would not call it that. By the way before I veer off from the pyramid schemes story, i came a cross some interesting pice of information. According to nation.co.ke article dated February 9th, a task force was established to investigate pyramid schemes in which Kenyans lost more than sh3.4 billion. The Cooperatives Development minister Joseph Nyaga said the taskforce, headed by Mr Francis Nyenze, was expected to present its report and recommendations in three months. I think we are still waiting for that so let move on.
Why are Kenyans rushing to win free things which in the long run are not free?
Someone somewhere is making some very serious money. Behind the scenes there must be million dollar deals.
Seriously these calls at the radio stations that one wins money are they real coz one gets exactly the sound but they deny like today’s Easy fm sound for Kshs.78,500
Shika Msa yep someone is making money out of this.
And what about this Lipua thing being charged at a premium rate of k’sh 30 per sms entry.
For the prize of k’sh 1,000,000 you only need 33,333.33 entries to recover the prize money.
And assume 1% of Safaricom subscribers participate on a daily basis then thier revenue would be 1/100*13M*30 = K’sh 3,900,000 na mnasema hakuna pesa. Safaricom is making more than 5m a day from this lipua thing!
@Shiko Msa Am told the calls to some of the radio stations cost ksh.60 per minute and judging from the number of people rushing to call in order to win, these guys pocket millions from the public.
@Evans some of the winners in my view are stage managed, the presenters would decide who to win the prize, although i stand to be corrected on this one
@Career Point, well put
@ Career point: firstly the lipua promo is being done on regular sms rates of kshs 3.50 and not 30 bob premium.Thing is greed is universal and you cant blame people for taking the bait hook line and sinker. For Lipua assume 12million subscribers and get a 10 percent strike rate for users, add to that the stories of the winners “mimi nilituma kama mia nne”, “nilituma mia mbili tuu!” 10% of 12 mill=1.2mill, assume low threshold of engagement at 100 sms per per since it is normal rate and one can Kipua a 250 card easy, you get 1,200,000*100*3.50=420,000,000 enough to cover the prize money, consolation prizes, marketing blitz and add a few more thousand subscribers who want to be millionaires but never had a safcom line.Remember that the cost of intranetwork messaging is borderline zero
Bottomline – greed, don’t blame anyone for taking advantage of peoples desire to get rich quick.If the odds were better both you and i know for sure we would participate…if you haven’t already :-)
I never subscribe to these promotions… chances of winning are very low. Unless am entering a promotion for free, and there is no such thing as free promotions, since you at least have to buy something.
you ain't seen nothing yet. just wait and you will be amazed by what the sms gambling are up to.