The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you might imagine that there would be very little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. Actually, it seems to be working the other way around, with the awful economic circumstances creating a higher ambition to play, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For almost all of the citizens subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are 2 popular styles of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lottery where the probabilities of hitting are surprisingly tiny, but then the prizes are also unbelievably high. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the idea that most do not buy a card with the rational assumption of profiting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the UK soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, cater to the extremely rich of the state and travelers. Up till not long ago, there was a exceptionally large tourist business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated bloodshed have cut 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 one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has shrunk by more than 40% in recent years and with the connected poverty and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t well-known how healthy the tourist industry which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive till things get better is simply not known.
