As a teenager I had a Saturday job at the Scottsville racecourse, selling win/place tickets at the Tote. I will never forget the look on people’s faces as they pushed their money over the counter.

The notes crinkled and sweaty, the look on their faces of excitement and anxiety, especially in the few seconds before the start of a race.

Afterwards the betting hall was carpeted with torn-up tickets. The air was thick with the stink of beer fumes and disappointment. Never mind, next race they’ll all flood back, crowding the counter and pushing money at you.

I don’t have to hear the stats that the house always wins to know that those punters never got any richer Saturday to Saturday. Later on in life I worked alongside two very good sportswriters in Jo’burg who were absolutely addicted to gambling. They threw away their salaries every month on the flip of a card. One drank himself to death, the other shot himself.

Which is why, as a rule, I seldom gamble. There is a difference between gambling and taking the occasional risk. Hopefully, it’s a well-calculated risk. I might take a risk on a property purchase when I have a pretty sure knowledge I am going to win. I trade a few shares on the JSE. But day-to-day betting, no sir. It’s too dangerous. With the exception of an occasional Lotto ticket, I will admit to that. Now that I am retired, have adequate savings and fewer expenses, I have convinced myself that you can’t catch fish if you don’t have some bait in the water.

But my Lotto ticket accounts for less than half of 1% of my monthly expenses. What is really shocking is the discovery that half of the population of South Africa spends 40% of their monthly income gambling. That is addiction!

Two surveys came out this month. Old Mutual says a staggering 52% of working South Africans gamble, mainly online. Even more concerning, 40% do so to pay off debts or cover expenses. One in five has borrowed, used credit, or sold something to fund their gambling.

South Africans wagered R1.5-trillion last year. Sadly, a huge chunk of that is social grant money. Recipients using their meagre grants to gamble in the desperate hope of a financial windfall. But instead of relief, this often leads to greater financial distress, particularly when funds intended for essentials like food and transport are lost to chance.

Then the ROOTS nationwide consumer survey by Caxton Publishers shows that 42% of South Africans gamble online (though lower at 30% in the Ballito area). In this area (national average shown in brackets), 69% (55%) buy funeral cover, 45% (50%) buy ADSL/fibre, 56% (44%) buy medical aid, 58% (39%) life insurance, 58% (39%) car insurance, 21% spend on school fees compared to 36% nationally as this is a higher age-group area, 37% (30%) rent, 15% (26%) have credit cards and 12% are members of stokvels, half the national average.

While a third of Ballito residents gamble online, in Durban’s Umlazi township that rises to 63% and nearly half (44%) rely on stokvels for their savings. It’s sad, really.

* Speaking of addiction, there is good news. I can’t resist this opportunity to blow our trumpet. In the same Caxton survey, The North Coast Courier came out top as the best-read and used local newspaper of 110 surveyed countrywide! As many as 90% of Ballito residents read the Courier regularly and use the advertisements to make shopping decisions every month.

If most Dolphin Coasters insist on a weekly Courier fix, I think it’s fair to call it an addiction. But a good one!

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