The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the current time, so you may think that there would be little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the desperate market circumstances creating a larger desire to play, to attempt to discover a quick win, a way from the problems.
For almost all of the locals subsisting on the abysmal nearby money, there are two established types of gaming, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the odds of winning are unbelievably tiny, but then the winnings are also remarkably big. It’s been said by economists who understand the situation that many don’t buy a ticket with the rational belief of profiting. Zimbet is built on either the domestic or the English soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, look after the extremely rich of the country and sightseers. Until recently, there was a very big vacationing business, built on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated conflict have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling hall, 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, the two of which contain table games, one armed bandits and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which has slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has contracted by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has cropped up, it isn’t understood how healthy the tourist industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of them will survive till conditions get better is basically unknown.
