The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might imagine that there would be little desire for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it appears to be working the opposite way around, with the critical economic circumstances leading to a greater ambition to bet, to attempt to discover a fast win, a way out of the crisis.

For almost all of the people subsisting on the tiny nearby wages, there are two common types of wagering, the national lottery and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the chances of succeeding are extremely low, but then the jackpots are also extremely large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that most do not buy a ticket with an actual belief of winning. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the British soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, cater to the astonishingly rich of the country and travelers. Up until a short time ago, there was a very substantial sightseeing business, built on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected bloodshed have carved into this market.

Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two 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 machine games. 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, both of which contain gaming tables, one armed bandits and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.

In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforestated mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.

Given that the market has shrunk by beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and crime that has cropped up, it is not known how well the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will still be around till conditions get better is basically unknown.