Entertainment analyst, Ricky Renneson, has stated that celebrities are ungrateful for kicking against the Gaming Commission's decision to ban them from advertising betting companies.

According to him, instead of calling for the government to rescind its decision, they should rather mount pressure on the government to fix the broken industry.

He mentioned that Celebrities are rather trying to get unfair gains they should make the government put the proper structures in place.

"if proper structures were in place and the environment was conducive enough for arts to thrive, the industry would not be witnessing a protest against guidelines aimed at protecting the vulnerable." He said. 

“What are our core revenue generation angles? It is not by signing up to a gambling agency. If I’m starting music, my focus is not producing music because I want to sign up to an alcoholic beverage or a betting company. No! It is rather to generate revenue from streams, copyright licenses, live events… that’s what we need to fight for,” he told host Abrantepa.

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“If there are laws that are actually protecting creative arts persons, government making available funds to support the industry like they do for other industries, we won’t even be bothered about which agency has been cut from giving you sponsorship.

“Mind you, the discussion we are having is just benefiting a few people. How about those who haven’t been signed to advertise betting? If structures were working, these ones are just add-ons. Let’s just say if these betting agencies, without any governmental issues, close, are we going to say the industry is not going to survive? We need now to focus more on our direct revenue streams,” Tenneson continued 

His point was however disputed by colleague Nenebi Tony, who claimed that revenue channels included commercial partnerships. He further mentioned that the core revenue channels are not enough to sustain an artist.

“the top five richest rappers in the world – Kanye West, Jay Z, P Diddy, Dr Dre and Drake – only two of them are active musicians and that is Drake and Kanye West. Out of these five, only one of them makes 50% of their income from music and that is Drake. So revenue from music, film is never going to a point where an artist can rely on them in the current dispensation to survive. That is why you build your brand as a person and you make money off your brand,” he concluded.