[ English ]

The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may envision that there would be little desire for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it appears to be working the other way around, with the atrocious economic circumstances leading to a greater desire to play, to try and find a quick win, a way from the problems.

For almost all of the locals subsisting on the meager local earnings, there are two common forms of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the probabilities of profiting are unbelievably tiny, but then the prizes are also unbelievably big. It’s been said by economists who study the idea that many don’t buy a ticket with a real expectation of winning. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the English soccer leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future games.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pamper the exceedingly rich of the country and tourists. Up till recently, there was a considerably big tourist industry, based on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected bloodshed have cut into this market.

Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming tables, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which has slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.

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 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Since the economy has contracted by beyond 40 percent in recent years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has resulted, it isn’t understood how healthy the sightseeing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will carry through until conditions get better is basically unknown.