The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you might envision that there might be very little desire for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be working the opposite way, with the atrocious market circumstances leading to a larger ambition to gamble, to try and find a fast win, a way from the crisis.
For many of the locals surviving on the tiny local money, there are two dominant forms of betting, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the chances of hitting are surprisingly small, but then the winnings are also remarkably big. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the situation that most don’t purchase a ticket with a real expectation of winning. Zimbet is based on either the local or the UK soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, pander to the very rich of the country and vacationers. Until a short while ago, there was a incredibly big tourist industry, built on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and connected conflict have carved into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, 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 gambling den, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have table games, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which have video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite 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 city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has deflated by more than 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has arisen, it is not understood how healthy the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will be alive until conditions get better is merely not known.