The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you could envision that there might be little desire for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the awful market circumstances leading to a greater desire to play, to try and find a quick win, a way from the difficulty.
For nearly all of the people subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are 2 common forms of gaming, the national lottery and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lotto where the odds of winning are extremely low, but then the jackpots are also extremely high. It’s been said by economists who look at the subject that most don’t buy a card with the rational assumption of winning. Zimbet is centered on either the domestic or the British soccer leagues and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, cater to the considerably rich of the nation and sightseers. Until not long ago, there was a extremely big vacationing industry, centered on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated violence have cut into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have table games, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which offer slot machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforementioned mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are also two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the market has shrunk by more than 40% in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and conflict that has cropped up, it is not known how well the tourist business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will still be around till conditions improve is merely unknown.