Unemployment, hustling, and waithood: exploring Zimbabwean urban male youth's utilisation of ICT in soccer betting

The study investigates how unemployed urban male youth in Zimbabwe, particularly in Norton and Harare, navigate prolonged economic crisis and high unemployment by creating an informal leisure economy around soccer betting. Against decades-long deindustrialisation and a collapsed formal sector, many youths remain in waithood—delayed transitions to adulthood—and turn to hustling in the informal economy. The research asks how soccer betting functions as a survival strategy during waithood and how it fosters the adoption of ICT and digital skills. The purpose is to document the strategies and competencies youths deploy, the role of digital technologies and the Internet in betting decisions, and the broader significance of betting as part of urban informal livelihoods. This is important because rapid urbanisation in Zimbabwe has not been matched by job creation, pushing youths to innovate, and because soccer betting appears to be reshaping digital engagement and skill acquisition.

The paper situates soccer betting within Zimbabwe’s history of gambling and changing legal-regulatory environments. Historically, betting (horse and dog racing) was male-dominated and constrained by colonial and post-colonial restrictions; since 2000, the Lotteries and Gambling Act has legalised and regulated gambling via the Lotteries and Gambling Board. Academic attention to soccer betting is recent: studies (Chiweshe, 2020; Magidi, 2019) identify sports betting as a fast-growing livelihood amid economic crisis; Magidi and Jimu (2023) describe an emergent informal night-time leisure economy around soccer viewing and betting. Conceptually, the paper draws on hustling and waithood (Honwana, 2012), framing betting as a hustling strategy during delayed transitions to adulthood. Comparative examples from Africa show youths’ improvisational livelihoods (e.g., side hustles in Kenya, artisanal mining in South Africa, motorcycle taxi sector in Liberia). The informal sector’s role in skill acquisition (Magidi & Mahiya, 2021) underpins the argument that betting nurtures digital competencies.

Fieldwork was conducted between 2016 and 2019 in Norton (a small town) and Harare (the capital). The study used autoethnographic and ethnographic approaches: participant observation (including researchers experimenting with placing bets to understand decision processes), non-participant observation in betting shops, and numerous informal conversations/interviews with bettors. Researchers took field notes and photographs and joined two WhatsApp betting groups and one soccer update group (each 40–80 members) for approximately six months after introducing themselves and their research intentions. Group discussions provided insights into tips, match selection, risk management, outcomes, and learning practices. Key informal interview prompts covered motivations for betting, duration of involvement, league/team/player selection, and betting methods. Participants were primarily young men (mostly unemployed), aged 18–38, reached via convenience and snowball sampling.

• Soccer betting is the dominant betting form among participants, reflecting soccer’s popularity; other sports (rugby, cricket) draw attention mainly during major tournaments, while horse/dog racing remains the preserve of older men. Betting was predominantly male.
• Betting markets and infrastructure: Major operators in Norton and Harare included MWOS, Africabet, and Soccer Shop. Shops supported manual and online betting, with large screens showing multiple matches and free-use desktop computers with Internet access; printed fixtures were available. Food/alcohol were not sold in shops.
• Online betting flows: Punters linked online accounts to EcoCash mobile money wallets, depositing and withdrawing via mobile money; none used bank accounts. Online betting mitigated long queues, time zone constraints (shops 09:00–20:00), adverse weather, and cash shortages, though manual bettors could receive cash payouts.
• Stakes, earnings, and motivations: Typical stakes ranged from US$1–$5 per bet. Students targeted modest wins (e.g., ~US$25/week) for transport, lunch, and data. Others sought to cover rent and food. While exact earnings were hard to ascertain due to reluctance to disclose, evidence included purchases of smartphones, tablets, and laptops from winnings.
• Betting decisions are research-driven, not random: Pre-betting research examined club/player form, head-to-head trends, injuries/absences, player-manager relationships (e.g., Costa–Mourinho), disciplinary risk profiles (e.g., Ramos, Pepe, Fernandinho, Herrera), fixture congestion and fatigue (losses more likely March–May), and pundit analyses (e.g., Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Peter Drury, Jamie Redknapp). Some bettors factored in referee effects (e.g., Michael Oliver, Anthony Taylor) and referee nationalities in African competitions.
• Digital information practices: Punters consumed highlights and statistics via YouTube, club Facebook pages, and soccer sites (e.g., Time Soccer, Highlights Soccer). Data costs shaped browser choices; many preferred UC Browser and Opera Mini over data-heavy Chrome/Safari. Members with Wi-Fi downloaded and shared news, stats, and videos to WhatsApp groups, reducing collective data costs.
• Social networking: WhatsApp groups functioned as research collaboratives, delegating tasks (e.g., evaluating English clubs vs German/Spanish clubs in Europe) and pooling insights. Bets were ultimately placed individually; bettors diversified across multiple tickets, balancing conservative and risky bets based on personal needs.
• Device ownership and reinvestment: Success and participation encouraged investment in better smartphones, laptops, tablets, power banks, portable Wi-Fi, and data bundles. Bettors upgraded obsolete devices to avoid performance and compatibility issues; betting venues were hubs for hawkers selling devices/accessories.
• Digital and Internet skills: Effective betting required competencies in device operation, Internet search, downloading/organizing media, email and social media use (WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook). Some youths leveraged ICT training from school/university (including troubleshooting and data minimization); others self-taught or learned from peers through betting participation, crediting betting for their digital upskilling.
• Scope of leagues: Beyond popular European leagues (EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1), bettors explored less-followed leagues (Chinese, Indian, Israeli, Croatian, American) and favored strong national teams in international tournaments (e.g., Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France, England, Belgium; in Africa: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria). Internet sources were vital where local information was scarce.
• Risk and use of winnings: Bettors adjusted risk by splitting tickets and timed risk tolerance to immediate financial needs. Winnings were used for devices/Internet, satellite TV subscriptions, student needs, rent, and food.

The findings demonstrate that soccer betting has become a form of hustling during waithood, enabling unemployed urban male youth to generate income while awaiting formal employment. Crucially, betting is not merely leisure or luck-based; it is underpinned by systematic research, digital literacy, and social networking that collectively enhance the likelihood of positive outcomes. This addresses the research question by showing how youths deploy agency and innovation to navigate economic precarity, using ICTs to access, curate, and interpret real-time information to inform bets. The study highlights a feedback loop: betting incentivizes acquisition of digital devices and Internet access; in turn, these technologies and skills improve betting strategies and outcomes. WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms function as knowledge commons, lowering data costs and diffusing expertise. The significance lies in revealing soccer betting as both an income-generating informal activity and a catalyst for broader digital inclusion and skills development among urban youth, with potential spillovers beyond betting into other life domains.

Soccer betting among young male youths in Norton and Harare has evolved into an informal leisure economy and survival strategy, characterized by research-driven decision-making, collaborative knowledge sharing, and intensive use of ICTs. Participation promotes adoption of digital devices and Internet use, and fosters development of digital and networking skills that may be transferable to future employment opportunities beyond waithood. The study contributes by reframing betting from a vice or pure entertainment to a resourceful, technology-enabled livelihood practice that showcases youth agency and innovation amid persistent economic adversity.

The article does not present a formal limitations section. The authors note difficulty determining actual earnings, as participants were reluctant to disclose precise amounts, complicating efforts to quantify income from betting.