[ English ]

The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you might imagine that there might be little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. Actually, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the awful market circumstances creating a larger desire to bet, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the crisis.

For most of the locals surviving on the tiny nearby wages, there are 2 established forms of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the odds of winning are unbelievably small, but then the winnings are also very high. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the subject that most do not buy a card with an actual expectation of profiting. Zimbet is based on either the local or the United Kingston soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, pamper the exceedingly rich of the society and tourists. Until a short time ago, there was a exceptionally substantial tourist industry, centered on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated violence have carved into this market.

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 hall, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which contain table games, slot machines and electronic 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 table games.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 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 shrunk by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the connected poverty and bloodshed that has cropped up, it is not understood how healthy the tourist industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will survive until things get better is merely not known.