ABSTRACT
Since its inception in colonial times, football has been a favourite pastime for many Zimbabweans. In contemporary times, football has generated heightened interest through betting options it proffers as youths in several urban cities of Zimbabwe, including Gweru, resort to betting more as a livelihood option. The nature of betting is less centred on football fandom or followership and knowledge but more on trying one’s chances. This is instanced by bets from the youths on little-known leagues in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America. This chapter focuses on football betting characteristics of youth in Gweru, Zimbabwe. It is a novel attempt to bring critical attention and evidence-based research on football betting in Zimbabwe. The chapter is based on ethnographic and participatory research methods, inclusive of unstructured in-depth interviews that intimately explore gambling in-depth and its inherent effects on urban youths in Gweru. Football gambling has become easily accessible in Zimbabwe due to technological advances and international banking platforms bringing these services to cell phones. The study also employed a gendered approach to examine the day demographic dynamics of this emergent, yet addictive, cultural activity amongst the urban population of Gweru.
