The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the current time, so you could think that there would be little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the awful economic circumstances creating a bigger ambition to bet, to try and locate a fast win, a way out of the situation.

For almost all of the locals subsisting on the meager local money, there are 2 established types of betting, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a national lottery where the odds of winning are remarkably low, but then the jackpots are also remarkably high. It’s been said by market analysts who study the subject that most do not purchase a card with an actual expectation of hitting. Zimbet is based on either the local or the UK soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, cater to the exceedingly rich of the society and travelers. Until recently, there was a very big tourist industry, built on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated violence have cut into this market.

Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have gaming tables, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which has gaming machines and tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Seeing as that the market has deflated by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has resulted, it is not known how healthy the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry through till conditions improve is merely unknown.