GAMBLING: Where angels fear to tread…A peek into Harare’s illegal gambling dens

Social workers attribute this increase in illegal gambling to both economic difficulties (on the part of the poor) and societal/cultural changes (for the affluent).

It is 7am and a group of men, most of them touts and “street fathers”, are huddled around a signpost somewhere in Harare.

A few metres away is a heap of rubbish and a public toilet which emits a strong offensive odour.

Ignoring all this, the men place their bets on a dirty piece of paper, gambling illegally in daylight. A police officer saunters by, unperturbed by the scene before him. Not to be outdone, a younger group of urchins does the same close by.

As if taking a cue from illegal vendors who have invaded any available space on Harare’s pavements, the gamblers are jostling for their own piece of the city’s pavements.

In the past, illegal gambling was mostly confined to backyard shebeens (themselves operating outside the law) and dimly-lit alleys where even angel’s would fear to tread.

Now illegal gambling is not only done right under the noses of police officers, but it has also gripped the well-heeled. The only difference between the street gamblers and those doing it in homes and hotel rooms is the stakes.

For the wealthy, the stakes are often very high: they include thousands of dollars, cars, housing stands and houses themselves.

Their less deep-pocketed counterparts will wager for anything from R2 or a loaf of bread.

Recently, The Sunday Mail Extra observed the operations of an illegal gambling operation on the above-ground parking lot of a shopping complex in Harare’s Avenues suburb.

Minimum bets were usually US$50, and quickly rose to several thousands dollars. Here was a group of well-dressed, sometimes flamboyant, men who sipped fine whiskies and puffed imported cigars and cigarettes just as easily as they put their cars on the line in a game of cards.

Fashionably — and often skimpily — dressed women hung on arms bearing designer watches and egged them on, eyes bright with the expectation of a big pay day for “daddy”.

This is not just about making a living, as it is with poorer gamblers, but it is almost a hobby for those who can afford to lose US$5 000 in a parking lot on a Friday night.

Small fortunes are won and lost on card games, dice and unbelievably simple things like tossing a coin while wagering on whether it will land on heads or tails.

Illegal gambling has well and truly arrived in Zimbabwe and some school children are known to skip class to squeeze in a quick game.

Social workers attribute this increase in illegal gambling to both economic difficulties (on the part of the poor) and societal/cultural changes (for the affluent).

Mr Edmos Mtetwa, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe’s School of Social Work, says illegal gambling is no longer viewed as a vice.

“We have issues that were once regarded as sacred but are now viewed as normal. In the past, for example, illegal gambling and courtship used to be done in private but now they have been thrown into the public domain,” Mr Mtetwa explains.

He says where illegal gambling used to be a preserve “rogue elements” and deviants, it is increasingly socially acceptable.

Social worker Mr Obey Chisi contends that law enforcement agencies will have a tough time dealing with this one, especially since it can – and is – done anywhere.

“Personally, I think it will be almost impossible for law enforcement agencies to completely eradicate illegal gambling. It is very difficult for law enforcement agencies to enforce a law if the number of culprits involved is high.”

Gambling has its well-documented dangers. But it being a fairly new phenomenon, few people are alive to them.

The first and obvious one is addiction, which can result in even the very rich gambling away house and home. (Anyone remember the Ugandan fellow with five wives who a few years ago gambled away his house after placing it as a wager on a win for Arsenal Football Club?)

Sociologists also say it has adverse psychological effects, as addicts start viewing everything as a potential wager. Mr Mtetwa adds to this: “The majority of illegal gamblers are hardcore criminals,” and they spot potential robbery prey at the gambling dens. The profits from illegal gambling operations have been used for loan shaking.

And people have been known to steal, evade taxes and embezzle to sustain their hunger for gambling.

It is interesting that illegal gambling has grown just as the legal variety has mushroomed.

The number of betting shops in Harare is increasing. In the 1990s, it was horse and dog racing that attracted punters.

Today we have sports betting, bingo, lotteries/lotto, and the dozens of things that can be done in registered casinos.

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

Gambling, when well-managed, is a source of good revenue for governments. Singapore casinos cashed US$6 billion in gaming revenue in 2013. Gambling in Macau, China grossed US$2,4 billion in March 2014 alone whilst in Nevada in the United States, gambling revenues for the month of March were US$951,2 million.

Evidently, this is a market that the enterprising have entered by setting up regular establishments that pay Zimbabwe’s Government taxes and also contribute to charities.

But for thousands of other people, the thrill is in the illegality, regardless of the stakes. On the streets of Harare, in its alleyways and parking lots, in its hotels and in plush living rooms and squalid backyards, every hand is a winner and every hand is a loser; and, as Kenny Rogers sang, “The best you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”