The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could think that there might be very little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be functioning the other way, with the critical economic circumstances leading to a bigger ambition to wager, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the crisis.
For most of the locals surviving on the tiny nearby earnings, there are 2 common styles of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the odds of profiting are extremely small, but then the prizes are also remarkably large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the concept that the majority do not purchase a ticket with a real expectation of winning. Zimbet is built on one of the local or the UK football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, pander to the very rich of the nation and vacationers. Up till a short while ago, there was a very substantial tourist industry, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market collapse 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 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 just slot machines. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer gaming tables, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are a total of two horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has shrunk by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has resulted, it is not known how healthy the tourist business which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will carry on till things improve is merely unknown.