The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you might think that there would be little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. Actually, it seems to be functioning the opposite way, with the desperate market conditions creating a bigger eagerness to play, to try and discover a quick win, a way from the crisis.

For many of the people surviving on the abysmal local wages, there are 2 popular styles of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of winning are unbelievably small, but then the winnings are also remarkably high. It’s been said by economists who understand the situation that the majority do not buy a card with a real belief of hitting. Zimbet is founded on one of the local or the UK football divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.

Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, pander to the exceedingly rich of the state and vacationers. Up until a short time ago, there was a extremely big tourist business, founded on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated conflict have cut into this market.

Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which contain table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which has gaming machines and tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Given that the economy has deflated by beyond 40% in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and conflict that has resulted, it isn’t known how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive until things get better is basically not known.