The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you could imagine that there might be very little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it seems to be operating the other way, with the awful economic circumstances creating a larger ambition to play, to try and discover a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For nearly all of the people living on the tiny local wages, there are 2 established styles of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lotto where the chances of winning are unbelievably tiny, but then the jackpots are also unbelievably large. It’s been said by economists who study the concept that the lion’s share don’t buy a ticket with a real assumption of profiting. Zimbet is built on one of the local or the British soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, look after the very rich of the country and travelers. Until not long ago, there was a very big tourist business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected bloodshed have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has just the 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 video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which offer gaming machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) 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 poverty and conflict that has resulted, it is not well-known how healthy the tourist industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will still be around till conditions get better is merely not known.