"Poor and desperate Zimbabweans hang out in Harare's crowded low-end betting halls, placing stakes as little as U.S. 20 cents on world soccer matches and international horse and dog races with fervent hopes of getting quick returns on their bit of cash. The gambling intensified in January, when many families were cash-strapped after year-end spending and children's school fees were due. Many short of cash responded by flocking to Harare's downtown licensed betting shops in search of a windfall. Five new betting agencies opened in the capital in the past year, frequented primarily by poor men. At one, unemployed 28-year-old Tinashe Marira said he spends his days gambling on soccer matches and depends on sporadic winnings to feed his family and elderly parents. He won $140 from a $5 wager on a soccer match and rushed out to buy long-overdue groceries. Although he doesn't win all the time, Marira declared gambling is now his full-time job and won't be looking for formal employment again anytime soon. "This pays better than any job I could ever find," Marira told The Associated Press after his shopping spree. Zimbabwe's already high unemployment rate, estimated at more than 80 percent, increased in the past year when hundreds of companies shut down. The country's economic crisis has deepened since long-time President Robert Mugabe, who will turn 90 in February, won re-election in July. Factories in the once bustling industrial zones in the main cities are eerily silent. Job seekers on foot in the scorching heat are turned away. Railroad tracks once used by trains to ferry in raw materials and supplies are now overgrown with weeds. The jobless drift into to Harare, the capital, to look for opportunities to make money and many end up selling vegetables, trinkets and mobile phone airtime on the street. Forty-six percent of Zimbabwe's 13 million people now survive by running such informal businesses, according to the World Bank. Both young and elderly unemployed say gambling is a way of making money. "It is a relief to many unemployed people roaming the streets," said Roger Tekwa, 46, another regular at the betting shop. "Gambling here is done with seriousness coupled with a sad desperation," said Harry Ndlovu, bookmaker and manager at Zimbets, a downtown betting shop that provides, along with slot machines, an array of sporting events to bet on including televised horse and dog races, European soccer matches and virtual video roulette." - Anne Bouey

That's not good. - Stephen Mack