MANY of Shenzhen’s 20,000 taxi drivers had turned to gambling because of meager incomes and depression, according to an investigative report in yesterday’s Southern Metropolis Daily.
Police raided an illegal gambling den for taxi drivers in Luohu District on Aug. 26 and arrested a dozen suspects. A day earlier, police released three taxi drivers who had been held at a restaurant in Luohu because they owed money to loan sharks.
“Meager incomes cause us to gamble,” said a taxi driver from Henan Province surnamed Yang who had been driving for more than seven years for Flower City Taxi Co.
“Compared with a few years ago, our monthly income is terribly low now. We suffer great financial and psychological pressure and there is no way to relieve the pressure other than gambling.”
Yang said taxis had been very busy and drivers earned more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,464) a month a few years ago and didn’t have time to gamble. However, because of high gasoline prices and fewer people taking taxis since the onset of the financial crisis, as well as business drying up around 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., groups of taxi drivers on night shift often gambled in parks, under pedestrian crossings or on grassed areas.
“Moreover, because we are in the same circle, we will feel shamed if we don’t join our friends and gamble,” said Yang.
Taxi drivers usually introduced their relatives or friends from their hometowns to the taxi industry. At present, most of the taxi drivers in Shenzhen are from Hunan, Hubei and Henan provinces.
A taxi driver surnamed Wu, employed by World Trade Taxi Co., had owed 100,000 yuan in gambling debts. Wu was illegally detained for six days by loan sharks who demanded 140,000 yuan including interest. “I had to sell the taxi and borrow money from my mother in the hometown,” said Wu, who said he sometimes won 20,000 yuan a day gambling, the equivalent of four months’ income, so he couldn’t resist the temptation.
A 20-year-old taxi driver surnamed Zhong, who gambled at Huaqiao Village in Bao’an District, said they were just money-making machines for the company.
“Nobody cares what we do in our spare time. I don’t have any way to kill time except gamble,” said Zhong, who had been working as a taxi driver for just two months.
“I think it is easy to stop taxi drivers from gambling. Installing Global Position System (GPS) could help supervise taxis.”
However, a manager surnamed Luo at Jinrui Taxi Co. believed GPS installation wasn’t a very useful way to manage taxi drivers because sometimes it was difficult to tell whether it was true when someone said their taxi had broken down. (Cai Yingbo)