[ English ]

The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may envision that there would be very little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be functioning the opposite way around, with the critical market circumstances leading to a larger eagerness to play, to attempt to locate a quick win, a way out of the crisis.

For many of the people subsisting on the tiny local money, there are 2 dominant forms of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lotto where the chances of winning are extremely low, but then the jackpots are also remarkably big. It’s been said by economists who study the concept that the lion’s share do not buy a ticket with an actual assumption of winning. Zimbet is centered on one of the domestic or the UK soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, look after the extremely rich of the state and vacationers. Up until a short time ago, there was a exceptionally substantial sightseeing business, centered on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated violence have carved into this trade.

Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which contain table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have slot machines and tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Seeing as that the market has shrunk by beyond 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and violence that has resulted, it is not known how well the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will survive till things get better is basically unknown.