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The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the current time, so you could imagine that there might be very little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be functioning the other way around, with the crucial economic conditions creating a higher desire to play, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the crisis.

For most of the people living on the tiny local money, there are two popular forms of betting, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the chances of hitting are remarkably low, but then the jackpots are also very large. It’s been said by economists who understand the situation that the lion’s share don’t purchase a card with an actual expectation of winning. Zimbet is built on one of the national or the UK football divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, pamper the very rich of the state and vacationers. Until not long ago, there was a considerably big tourist industry, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated bloodshed have carved 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 den, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains 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, the two of which offer slot machines and tables.

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

Since the economy has shrunk by more than 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and violence that has resulted, it is not known how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will be alive till conditions improve is basically not known.