Unemployed youths turn to gambling

Scores of visibly wasted youths quarrel over a game of cards at Westlea shopping centre in Harare.

The game goes on for several minutes after which the winner picks the cash prize stacked under a brick. Then they move to the next round of the game. They can spend virtually the whole day at it.

In a country where unemployment is over 80%, coupled with breakdown of the social moral fabric, many youths have resorted to gambling to eke a living.

"This is our office and that is where we make money, you know most of us are unemployed and this is the only way to make a living," said one youth identified as Andrew.

He said although he was a university graduate, who had big dreams just like any other educated person, he had not been able to secure formal employment.

"I have to look after my family, but the system is not conducive for that. Jobs are difficult to secure," chipped in his obviously disgruntled companion.

Fights usually break out as some refuse to part with their money after they have lost a game.

"Yes, gambling is now in my veins. I can't afford to spend a day without playing because that is where I get money. Yes, sometimes we fight as some of us are bad losers and sometimes the police have to intervene," said gambler Takura Chimuka.

The illicit practice is also rife in Highfield just like in almost every other high-density suburb.

"We use a dice and anyone who correctly predicts the number before the dice is thrown takes the money," said a Highfield-based gambler.

Under the Lotteries and Gaming Act, it is illegal to operate a casino or any other form of gambling facility without following proper regulations from Zimbabwe Lotteries and Gaming Board.

However, most gambling sites in the capital are backyard shebeens where youths gamble for survival.

Young children are also involved in illegal gambling and a visit to Mbare revealed that even children in school uniform were bunking lessons to go gambling. Children under 18 years are not allowed to gamble.

Social workers are alarmed at the rising number of gambling addicts in the capital.

Desperate people see gambling as the only way to escape poverty. For others, it marks a new form of social vice away from the traditional scourge of alcoholism and prostitution.

Social worker Abednigo Gomo expressed concern over the increase in gamblers.

"Most people are turning to gambling as the only source of money. Yes, some are doing it the legal way going to registered casinos, but gambling is addictive and that is where the problem emanates," he said.

"There is nothing we can do," Gomo said when asked how social workers could help. "It's like a drug for them. We can't kick them out."

An official from a casino in the capital said up to 50% of people who patronise the place could be addicted.

"There is nothing we can do," he said when asked about compulsive gamblers. "They need psychological help."

Betting is by no means an unknown phenomenon in a country where ghetto street corners have always been crowded with men playing cards.

A man was stabbed to death recently in Mbare while gambling.

According to Gomo, compulsive gamblers patronising posh venues such as the Rainbow Towers, tend to be intelligent, professionally successful people, driven to gambling by an inability to relax, given the hectic lifestyles they lead.

Another casino attendant said a quarter of the clients played "one-arm bandits" - spending hours feeding coins into machines and hoping for the jackpot.

But far from this affluent slot machine, many unemployed youths said they had squandered lots of money playing cards.

Self-confessed gambler Ishmael told this reporter of his terrible guilt at not being able to stop regularly pawning his wife's clothes, and jewellery - including their wedding ring. Illegal gambling is a lucrative industry with estimates that billions of dollars change hands every year through gambling.

According to watch.com, Africa is becoming a fertile ground for organised illegal betting and gambling syndicates.

Until a time when the government has clear-cut strategies on employment creation, the future for youths will remain bleak with the dream of ever securing employment fading with each day.

Graduates, who are bold enough, will continue to risk the insecurity associated with searching for employment in foreign lands or resorting to unscrupulous means of survival like gambling.

The country will continue to suffer from brain-drain which will lead to under-utilisation and underdevelopment of resources.

The government has, through the Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment ministry, been encouraging youths to create employment rather than seek employment.

Zimbabwe has since become a net exporter of skilled personnel around the world, where millions of professionals have taken up jobs following deterioration of the national economy.