[ English ]

The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you may imagine that there might be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it appears to be operating the other way around, with the crucial economic circumstances creating a larger ambition to gamble, to try and locate a quick win, a way out of the difficulty.

For the majority of the citizens subsisting on the abysmal local earnings, there are two popular types of wagering, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the chances of succeeding are extremely small, but then the prizes are also very big. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the situation that many don’t purchase a ticket with an actual expectation of profiting. Zimbet is centered on either the national or the British football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, cater to the extremely rich of the society and sightseers. Up until a short while ago, there was a very big tourist business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated crime have carved into this trade.

Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, 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 pair of which contain gaming tables, 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 gaming machines and tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Seeing as that the market has shrunk by beyond forty percent in recent years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has cropped up, it isn’t well-known how healthy the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of them will survive till conditions improve is merely unknown.