The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there might be little desire for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it appears to be functioning the other way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a higher desire to gamble, to attempt to discover a fast win, a way out of the situation.

For many of the locals subsisting on the meager local wages, there are two established forms of wagering, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the odds of succeeding are surprisingly small, but then the prizes are also surprisingly large. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the idea that the majority do not purchase a ticket with an actual expectation of winning. Zimbet is founded on either the national or the English football leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pander to the considerably rich of the country and vacationers. Up till a short while ago, there was a incredibly substantial tourist business, based on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated violence have carved into this trade.

Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have table games, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer slot machines and table games.

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

Given that the economy has contracted by more than 40 percent in the past few years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has resulted, it is not understood how well the vacationing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of them will carry through till things get better is basically not known.