The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there would be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it appears to be working the other way around, with the crucial market conditions leading to a higher ambition to bet, to attempt to find a fast win, a way from the crisis.
For many of the locals surviving on the tiny local money, there are two dominant types of gambling, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the odds of succeeding are unbelievably small, but then the winnings are also unbelievably high. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the concept that the lion’s share don’t buy a card with the rational expectation of profiting. Zimbet is founded on either the local or the British soccer leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other hand, pamper the considerably rich of the nation and vacationers. Up until not long ago, there was a extremely big tourist business, centered on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and connected conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, 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 only slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer gaming tables, one armed bandits and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has deflated by more than 40% in the past few years and with the connected poverty and violence that has come about, it isn’t well-known how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will survive until conditions improve is basically not known.