Amerado’s experience with sports betting

In Ghana’s capital, Amerado had no room to lay his head until he decided to live with his friend at Pokuase. Life was so hard he had to temporarily abandoned his dream of doing music and left Ghana for the UK in October 2019 where he lived with his auntie. “It got to a point I didn’t know where my next meal was going to come from. That time, I was very devastated; I almost run into depression. It was very bad,” the musician shared his experience on The Delay Show aired on October 9, 2022. While in the UK, he contemplated on whether to return to Ghana or stay and make ends meet and eventually settled on the latter in January 2020. Upon his return, he used the little amount of money he had on him to pay his sister’s school fees, bought stuff to put his room in shape, gifted his mother and friend some amount and used the remaining for his upkeep. At a point, Amerado had no penny on him. “I became broke,” he said. “If I’d get money for food unless I engaged in sports betting. I discovered casino. I could have 50 pesewas or GHC1 on me and decide to go spin. If I lose, I call my friend for money for survival; if I win, I used the money to buy rice and cook.” According to Amerado, his producer Azee and Kwao, “got pissed” at a point because he had abandoned music. “They had to come to Accra without telling me. They asked if I really want to do music because I’ve promised myself that’s the only thing I want to do so why is it that suddenly I don’t even go to the studio to record? “My motivation to go back and record was my mother and the fanbase I built before leaving Ghana. They were giving me pressure and I couldn’t waste Azee and Kwao’s time for all the years they had been with me,” Amerado said. After that encounter with Azee and Kwao came Zico, manager of Amerado who assisted the rapper to create ‘Yeete Nsem’, a weekly rap series that touched on trending issues. This catapulted Amerado to fame as people showed interest in his craft. The rapper has since become a household name, won awards, released an EP and is set to release an album ‘GINA’. The musician is thankful he is now financially independent. "God has been wonderful. So far, I can't complain. I never imagined myself being this boy Amerado who a couple of years ago nearly gave up on my craft. I'm grateful to God," he said.