[ English ]

The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you may think that there would be little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be functioning the opposite way around, with the atrocious economic circumstances creating a greater eagerness to bet, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the problems.

For the majority of the locals living on the tiny nearby wages, there are 2 dominant forms of gaming, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lotto where the probabilities of winning are extremely tiny, but then the prizes are also extremely big. It’s been said by financial experts who study the concept that many do not purchase a card with a real belief of winning. Zimbet is centered on either the domestic or the United Kingston soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future games.

Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, pamper the astonishingly rich of the society and tourists. Up till not long ago, there was a very substantial vacationing industry, centered on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and connected bloodshed have cut into this trade.

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

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforementioned alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools 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.

Since the market has deflated by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has come about, it is not well-known how well the sightseeing business which funds Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will survive until conditions improve is simply unknown.