The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you may think that there might be little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. Actually, it seems to be operating the other way, with the atrocious market conditions leading to a higher eagerness to gamble, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For the majority of the locals subsisting on the meager nearby earnings, there are two popular forms of betting, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of hitting are surprisingly tiny, but then the jackpots are also surprisingly high. It’s been said by economists who study the subject that the majority do not buy a ticket with an actual assumption of winning. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the British soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pamper the incredibly rich of the society and travelers. Up till not long ago, there was a incredibly big tourist business, based on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated crime have carved into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, 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 just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have gaming tables, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has deflated by more than 40 percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has resulted, it is not known how healthy the sightseeing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will be alive until conditions get better is basically not known.