The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you might envision that there might be little desire for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it seems to be functioning the other way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a greater desire to bet, to try and locate a quick win, a way out of the crisis.

For almost all of the locals subsisting on the meager local money, there are 2 common types of betting, the national lottery and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lottery where the odds of succeeding are unbelievably low, but then the jackpots are also unbelievably high. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the situation that the majority do not purchase a card with an actual assumption of hitting. Zimbet is founded on one of the national or the British soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, pamper the very rich of the society and sightseers. Up till not long ago, there was a very substantial tourist industry, built on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated conflict have cut into this trade.

Among Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which have table games, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have gaming machines and table games.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Given that the economy has deflated by beyond forty percent in recent years and with the associated deprivation and crime that has come about, it is not understood how well the vacationing business which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will carry on till conditions get better is merely not known.