The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may imagine that there might be very little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be functioning the opposite way around, with the awful economic circumstances creating a greater ambition to wager, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the difficulty.

For most of the citizens subsisting on the tiny local money, there are two dominant types of gaming, the national lottery and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lotto where the chances of hitting are unbelievably low, but then the jackpots are also surprisingly high. It’s been said by economists who study the situation that most do not purchase a ticket with the rational expectation of hitting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the UK soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, cater to the very rich of the nation and sightseers. Until recently, there was a considerably substantial sightseeing industry, based on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated violence have cut into this market.

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

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Seeing as that the market has diminished by beyond 40 percent in recent years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has arisen, it is not known how healthy the tourist industry which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of them will be alive until things get better is basically not known.