The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there might be little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it appears to be operating the opposite way, with the awful market circumstances creating a higher ambition to gamble, to try and find a quick win, a way from the crisis.

For nearly all of the citizens subsisting on the meager local wages, there are 2 common types of gambling, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the odds of profiting are remarkably small, but then the jackpots are also very high. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the subject that most don’t purchase a card with a real assumption of hitting. Zimbet is centered on either the domestic or the English soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future games.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, pamper the considerably rich of the nation and tourists. Up till a short time ago, there was a very substantial sightseeing industry, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated crime have cut into this trade.

Among Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slots. 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, the two of which have table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which has slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Since the economy has contracted by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and crime that has arisen, it isn’t well-known how healthy the sightseeing industry which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of them will be alive until things get better is simply not known.