The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might think that there would be very little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the critical market conditions leading to a bigger desire to wager, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the difficulty.
For the majority of the locals living on the meager local earnings, there are 2 established types of betting, 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 remarkably tiny, but then the jackpots are also very high. It’s been said by economists who study the situation that the lion’s share don’t buy a ticket with the rational assumption of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the local or the English soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pander to the incredibly rich of the society and vacationers. Until a short time ago, there was a very substantial sightseeing industry, built on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected violence have carved into this market.
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 den, which has just the slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which contain table games, slot machines and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforementioned talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has deflated by more than 40% in the past few years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has arisen, it isn’t known how healthy the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry on till conditions improve is merely unknown.