The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you could imagine that there would be very little affinity for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it seems to be working the opposite way, with the desperate market circumstances leading to a greater desire to bet, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the difficulty.
For the majority of the people living on the tiny local earnings, there are 2 popular forms of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the chances of winning are unbelievably tiny, but then the winnings are also very high. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the subject that most don’t buy a ticket with the rational assumption of winning. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the UK soccer divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other hand, cater to the exceedingly rich of the society and sightseers. Up until not long ago, there was a considerably substantial sightseeing business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated bloodshed have cut 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 slots, and the Plumtree Casino, 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 two of which contain gaming tables, slots and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which has video poker machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two 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 contracted by beyond forty percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and violence that has resulted, it isn’t understood how healthy the sightseeing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will be alive until things improve is basically not known.