In the cramped cells with the view obstructed by the bars of a small window, sports betting takes place in the shadows. Prisoners are not allowed to have a smartphone. However, cell phones enter by circumventing the bans. Among those who manage to fit this sesame into their cell, some use it to offer themselves a gentler life behind bars or to help their loved ones outside through sports betting. But all of them are fleeing their painful daily life. In the Muret detention center, Walid * has been dragging his feet for many months. Before returning for “his latest bullshit”, the thirty-something was already betting hundreds of euros on sports events. Incarcerated, he managed to get a telephone. Winamax was one of the first apps he installed. He can bet up to € 1,000 per month. “When I win, I buy food, objects or cigarettes. I also try to send money to my wife so that our children do not lack anything. When I lose, too bad”, confides Walid. In his prison, they are a few dozen to bet, according to him. A few kilometers away, in the Seysses remand center, “practically all those who have a cell phone bet”, says a former prisoner. For many, it is a way through concrete walls. “You watch the games you bet on. You are so focused that you forget where you are looking from,” Walid says. Cédric *, a Toulouse resident imprisoned in Montpellier, has also specialized and puts in around a hundred euros per month. “Thanks to my free time, I watch a lot of matches, he smiles. I created a prediction account on the Snapchat social network. . For a prison supervisor in the Toulouse region, “we cannot speak of a scourge”. “There are smartphones, inevitably, some bet. When you don’t have much to do, this activity occupies,” he observes. Prisoners bet using prepaid card codes bought in tobacco shops by their relatives. The money from their predictions passes between the betting site and the bank before returning to their account in prison. This pastime, commonplace elsewhere, is seen as an outlet in the prison environment.
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