The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there would be very little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it seems to be working the other way, with the crucial economic conditions creating a higher ambition to gamble, to try and find a quick win, a way from the situation.
For the majority of the people living on the tiny local money, there are two dominant types of betting, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the probabilities of hitting are extremely small, but then the prizes are also very high. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the concept that most don’t buy a card with a real expectation of winning. Zimbet is built on either the national or the English soccer leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pander to the astonishingly rich of the country and tourists. Up till a short while ago, there was a considerably substantial tourist business, centered on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected crime have carved into this trade.
Among 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 hall, which has just the slot machine games. 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, the two 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, the two of which offer gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforementioned alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has shrunk by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has resulted, it is not understood how well the vacationing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry on until conditions get better is merely not known.