[ English ]

The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could envision that there might be little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it seems to be working the opposite way, with the desperate market conditions creating a greater ambition to bet, to try and discover a fast win, a way from the crisis.

For the majority of the people surviving on the tiny local money, there are two common styles of gaming, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the chances of hitting are remarkably small, but then the prizes are also extremely big. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the concept that the majority don’t buy a ticket with the rational assumption of hitting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the United Kingston soccer divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, cater to the considerably rich of the nation and sightseers. Up till a short while ago, there was a very large vacationing industry, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected bloodshed have carved into this trade.

Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer table games, slots and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have slot machines and tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Seeing as that the market has shrunk by more than 40 percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has resulted, it is not understood how healthy the tourist industry which funds Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive until conditions improve is simply unknown.