The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you might envision that there might be very little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it appears to be working the opposite way around, with the atrocious market conditions leading to a greater desire to wager, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the problems.

For many of the citizens subsisting on the meager local money, there are two popular forms of wagering, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the odds of winning are remarkably low, but then the winnings are also surprisingly large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that the lion’s share don’t buy a ticket with the rational belief of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the UK soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, cater to the exceedingly rich of the nation and travelers. Up till recently, there was a incredibly substantial sightseeing business, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated crime have carved into this trade.

Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling den, 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, both of which offer table games, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which has gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a pools system), there are also two horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Given that the market has contracted by more than 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and crime that has come about, it isn’t well-known how well the sightseeing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will be alive till conditions improve is merely unknown.