The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you might envision that there would be very little affinity for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it seems to be functioning the opposite way, with the atrocious economic circumstances creating a higher desire to play, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the problems.
For almost all of the people subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are two dominant forms of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the odds of profiting are remarkably low, but then the winnings are also very large. It’s been said by economists who look at the idea that the lion’s share don’t purchase a card with the rational belief of hitting. Zimbet is founded on either the national or the English football divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, mollycoddle the extremely rich of the society and tourists. Up until not long ago, there was a considerably substantial tourist industry, founded on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated bloodshed have cut into this market.
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 only slots. 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 pair of which contain table games, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which offer gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforestated mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is 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 market has shrunk by beyond forty percent in recent years and with the associated deprivation and conflict that has come about, it is not known how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will survive till conditions improve is basically not known.