The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could imagine that there might be little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be functioning the other way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a greater ambition to play, to attempt to find a quick win, a way from the crisis.

For many of the locals subsisting on the tiny nearby money, there are two popular styles of wagering, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the odds of winning are surprisingly small, but then the prizes are also surprisingly high. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the subject that the lion’s share don’t buy a card with the rational assumption of profiting. Zimbet is founded on either the domestic or the English football divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, pander to the incredibly rich of the country and vacationers. Until not long ago, there was a very substantial vacationing business, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and connected bloodshed have cut into this market.

Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, 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, the two of which contain table games, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforementioned talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Given that the economy has shrunk by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the associated poverty and violence that has arisen, it isn’t well-known how well the vacationing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will survive till things improve is basically unknown.