The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you may think that there would be little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it seems to be operating the opposite way around, with the desperate economic conditions leading to a bigger ambition to play, to attempt to find a fast win, a way out of the problems.
For most of the locals surviving on the meager local wages, there are 2 dominant styles of gambling, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the probabilities of succeeding are surprisingly low, but then the winnings are also very big. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the situation that most do not purchase a card with an actual assumption of profiting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the British soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, look after the extremely rich of the nation and vacationers. Up till recently, there was a considerably large vacationing business, built on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated bloodshed have cut into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which have gaming machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are also 2 horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has diminished by beyond 40% in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has arisen, it isn’t known how healthy the vacationing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will survive till things improve is simply not known.
