The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you could envision that there would be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it appears to be working the other way, with the awful economic conditions creating a bigger eagerness to wager, to try and locate a fast win, a way from the problems.
For the majority of the locals subsisting on the tiny nearby money, there are two dominant forms of wagering, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lottery where the chances of profiting are surprisingly low, but then the prizes are also very high. It’s been said by market analysts who study the subject that the majority do not buy a ticket with the rational belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on one of the local or the United Kingston soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, mollycoddle the very rich of the state and sightseers. Up till not long ago, there was a very substantial tourist business, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two 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 has gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there are also 2 horse racing tracks 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 beyond 40 percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has cropped up, it isn’t known how healthy the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry on till things improve is simply not known.