At 7:30 on a Tuesday morning, while most of the city’s young professionals were settling into their office chairs or navigating Durban’s rush-hour traffic, one man sat quietly at a roulette table inside one of KwaZulu-Natal’s biggest casinos.
His eyes were fixed on the spinning wheel, a symbol of both hope and heartbreak.
“When I came to the casino, I had the intention of making money, but it didn’t work out for me,” he told IOL. “I played R300 on the tables and lost and R100 on a slot machine. I had no luck.”
He’s in his late twenties, educated, and has a transportation service business. He insists he’s not addicted, just ‘passing time’ and ‘trying his luck’. But like thousands of young South Africans, gambling has quietly become part of…