The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could imagine that there might be very little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it appears to be operating the other way, with the critical economic conditions leading to a higher desire to play, to attempt to find a quick win, a way from the crisis.
For almost all of the citizens surviving on the meager local earnings, there are 2 dominant forms of betting, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the odds of succeeding are remarkably low, but then the jackpots are also remarkably high. It’s been said by economists who understand the idea that many don’t buy a card with a real assumption of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the domestic or the British football divisions and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, pander to the astonishingly rich of the nation and vacationers. Up till recently, there was a considerably big sightseeing business, based on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected conflict 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 only slots. 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 have gaming tables, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which have gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has shrunk by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and crime that has resulted, it isn’t known how well the sightseeing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will carry through till things improve is simply unknown.