This guy is just a scrounger. I used to go to Vegas to play poker at least twice per year, and I would see guys like this all the time. In Vegas they were gambling degenerates but the same sort of profile, trying to hustle a buck here or a fiver there, so that they could lay down a bet on that sure-thing basketball game. Mostly they were pretty dumb but with some social skills, and after years of that sort of lifestyle, they were pretty adept small-time grifters. The standard profile is that they are white, usually from the southern states, what we would call white trash.
I think this dude is pretty much that individual - none too bright, but socially adept. I don't think his intent is even malicious - he sees himself as a victim of unfair life circumstance, so people ought to help him. And once you fall into that pattern, it seems a lot easier to scrounge that to work at Wal-Mart for $7.50/hr... I don't even dislike these people - they can be quite entertaining at the poker table, but you just have to be aware that at some point there will be an "ask"...
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