My name is Alex Tumwesigwa, 35 years old from Isingiro.

I lost my job in the first lockdown of March 2020, when the hotel I was working as a storekeeper decided to lay down some workers, sadly, I was among the affected people.

I hadn’t saved a lot of money since I was not earning a lot but I would work hard to see that I get enough money for my house rent, wife and my kids.

I spent about a month depressed and thinking of how to get money for taking care of myself, my family and rent.

I called my former hotel manager and explained to him my problem, he asked me to meet him at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala, when I went there, I was literally in tears because I had no more source of income.

He gave me Shs500,000 and advised me to look for any simple business that can sustain me during the lockdown. When I reached home, I was super excited, I asked my wife what business we could take but she told me that she would do a pilot study on small businesses around the area.

Related: How losing Shs3 million to sports betting was a blessing in disguise to me

Surprisingly, before she could come back to me with the results, a friend of mine had already corrupted my mind with gambling.

He told me, he has been winning money with Uganda Bettors Association betting tips and wanted me also to see how I can make money through betting.

Someone would call me any sort of name at that period because I was indeed stupid. Sometimes, I sit down and ask myself, what if these guys had scammed me, what would be my response and how would I go back to my wife and explain how I have lost ‘our capital’ to scammers.

Long story short, he gave me their number and I sent them a WhatsApp message and explained my issue. I told them, I don’t know how to bet but I heard you guys give odds, they said “yes, we shall guide you.” I was given the condition  to pay a subscription fee, I swear I felt covid-19 signs when I sent the money because it was 50/50.

It was a Wednesday and I had sent the money at around 11am, and they told me, they are going to send me games through email. 2pm, no email, I even failed to talk, my palms were sweating. I never wanted to show them that am impatient, so I kept it to me and never sent them a reminder. I finally received an email at around 4:30pm, I jumped like the games were 100% [laughs].

I rushed and staked 50k because the guy who recommended me advised me to ask for odd 3+, I staked and won!

I was happy and said I have got where to make money from. The following day, since I won around 160k, I staked 100k on the following day’s ticket. I stupidly added another team just to try and raise the odd to at least 5. I lost!!

Now that’s where the movie started. I got back the COVID-19 signs. But I had to be obedient and stake the small odds they were sending. I staked the small odds until I made like 1m and the day that changed the whole story is when I decided to stake 500k.

I won and it was the beginning of my journey. My wife didn’t know how I was making money but there was a change in the way we were living. I became open to her and said that I started gambling.

I officially made a lifetime Subscription to Uganda Bettors Association and they have helped me become the person I never dreamt of being. My village people think I joined the so-called Illuminati.

I bought a house and by the end of this year, I should have completed 100% payment.

Disclaimer: I am not advising anyone to start betting, this is just my own life story. My daily dose of making money is Uganda Bettors Association and they even have free tips for everyone. Check their site if you are interested.