[ English ]

The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could imagine that there would be very little desire for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it seems to be working the other way around, with the awful economic conditions leading to a higher ambition to wager, to attempt to find a fast win, a way out of the situation.

For nearly all of the people subsisting on the abysmal nearby money, there are two popular forms of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lotto where the odds of profiting are surprisingly tiny, but then the jackpots are also surprisingly large. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the idea that many don’t buy a card with an actual expectation of hitting. Zimbet is built on one of the local or the English soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future games.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pander to the extremely rich of the country and travelers. Up till a short time ago, there was a exceptionally substantial vacationing industry, centered on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and connected bloodshed 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 one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer gaming tables, one armed bandits and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which has video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.

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

Given that the economy has deflated by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has come about, it isn’t understood how healthy the sightseeing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will survive till things get better is merely unknown.