Gambling for survival: Inside the Romani Casino culture

The psychology behind betting it all

At the casino. Picture by Martina Petkova

One push of the button and your entire life can turn around.

One push and you might be able to feed your family tonight. Or buy back your phone from the pawnshop. Or pay back the money you took from the loan sharks. Or buy a fridge, so that the food you bring doesn’t go bad. Or an oven, so you can cook on something different than a pan held above a fire you kindled on the ground. Or a big bed so neither one of you - your wife, your kids, or you - has to sleep on the ground.

One simple push of the button. Colorful pictures of oranges, cherries, lemons and what-have-you spin on the screen and grind to a halt. Nothing. Zero.

But it’s ok. Because the next push can be it. So you push, again and again.

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The casino in the Zaharna Fabrika neighborhood is the place where you can always find someone, often groups of people, from our Roma tribe. Outsiders see them as foolish and, worse, guilty for their poverty. How can you expect to have any hope for financial stability if you’re “always at the casino”?

The Romani work very hard. They get paid minimum wage. And like clockwork, on salary day they crowd in front of the casino. The loan sharks are there too, because they know that if they don’t seize the moment to collect on debt now, they might not see their money at all. They have a more sinister reason, as well. They are ready to loan money to the people who will gamble their entire salary away and step outside looking for more cash in the hope of turning their luck around.

Are the Romani foolish? Are they addicts? Are they chronically irresponsible with money? What can be the reason for them throwing away the cash that they broke their backs working for?

We will tell you the reason. And you’ll see that, if it were you in their place, even if you’re the most financially responsible person on Earth, you will do the exact same thing.