The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may imagine that there would be very little affinity for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it seems to be working the other way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a higher ambition to wager, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the difficulty.
For nearly all of the locals subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are 2 common types of betting, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lottery where the probabilities of hitting are extremely low, but then the winnings are also remarkably large. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the subject that many don’t purchase a card with an actual assumption of winning. Zimbet is based on either the domestic or the United Kingston soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, look after the very rich of the country and tourists. Up until a short while ago, there was a very big vacationing business, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated violence have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which contain gaming tables, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has diminished by more than forty percent in recent years and with the connected poverty and violence that has come about, it isn’t well-known how healthy the sightseeing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will carry on until conditions get better is basically not known.