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Through the case study of a sports betting and gambling space in a residential neighbourhood in Yopougon in Abidjan, this article aims to understand how socio-economic disparities are reproduced and legitimised by the moral and social distancing that takes place between young Ivorians. The social differentiations of young urbanites looking for work are analysed through the prism of interactions and ‘boundary work’ in a space dedicated to gambling. These phenomena are part of the renegotiation of the figures of success of an urban middle class. The mobilisation of moral categories makes it possible to distinguish between young ‘good-natured graduates’ and ‘aggressive young Nousia’ in order to legitimise unequal access to the social and economic resources generated in the gaming space.