The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the current time, so you could imagine that there might be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it seems to be functioning the opposite way, with the desperate market circumstances leading to a bigger eagerness to gamble, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the difficulty.
For nearly all of the locals subsisting on the abysmal local earnings, there are two common styles of gambling, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lottery where the odds of hitting are extremely tiny, but then the winnings are also remarkably large. It’s been said by market analysts who study the concept that many don’t purchase a card with an actual belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on either the national or the English football divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, mollycoddle the incredibly rich of the country and tourists. Until recently, there was a very large tourist business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated bloodshed have cut into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 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 slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only 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 video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes 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% in recent years and with the associated poverty and conflict that has come about, it isn’t well-known how well the tourist industry which funds Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will still be around till conditions get better is basically unknown.
