The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you might imagine that there might be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it appears to be working the other way around, with the desperate market circumstances leading to a greater ambition to bet, to try and locate a quick win, a way from the crisis.
For the majority of the citizens surviving on the abysmal nearby earnings, there are two established types of gaming, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of succeeding are surprisingly small, but then the prizes are also very high. It’s been said by economists who look at the concept that most don’t buy a ticket with a real belief of profiting. Zimbet is based on either the local or the English soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, pander to the considerably rich of the society and sightseers. Until a short while ago, there was a considerably substantial vacationing business, based on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated bloodshed have cut into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer gaming tables, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which has gaming machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has shrunk by more than forty percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has arisen, it is not understood how well the tourist industry which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will carry on till things improve is basically unknown.