The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the current time, so you could imagine that there might be little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be working the other way, with the crucial market circumstances creating a larger desire to gamble, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For the majority of the locals living on the meager local earnings, there are two popular styles of gambling, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lotto where the probabilities of profiting are remarkably low, but then the prizes are also unbelievably big. It’s been said by economists who understand the subject that the lion’s share don’t buy a card with an actual belief of winning. Zimbet is built on either the national or the English soccer leagues and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, cater to the astonishingly rich of the nation and vacationers. Up till not long ago, there was a very big tourist business, centered on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety 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 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machine games. 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, the pair of which have table games, slot machines and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses 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 casinos and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has shrunk by more than forty percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t understood how healthy the sightseeing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will survive until things get better is merely not known.
