The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might imagine that there might be very little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the critical market conditions leading to a greater ambition to wager, to try and discover a quick win, a way out of the situation.
For almost all of the locals living on the meager nearby money, there are 2 established types of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the odds of profiting are remarkably low, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the situation that many do not buy a card with the rational belief of profiting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the UK soccer leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, cater to the considerably rich of the country and vacationers. Until recently, there was a extremely large tourist business, centered on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated crime have carved into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have gaming tables, one armed bandits and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated talked about 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 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has deflated by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has resulted, it isn’t known how healthy the tourist industry which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will carry through until conditions get better is simply not known.