The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you could think that there would be very little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it appears to be working the opposite way around, with the critical economic conditions creating a bigger eagerness to play, to try and discover a quick win, a way from the situation.
For almost all of the locals subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are 2 established styles of betting, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lotto where the probabilities of hitting are extremely tiny, but then the winnings are also extremely large. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the idea that most don’t buy a ticket with the rational expectation of hitting. Zimbet is based on either the local or the British soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, mollycoddle the incredibly rich of the society and vacationers. Until not long ago, there was a considerably big sightseeing industry, based on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated crime have cut into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, 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 Casino, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which contain gaming tables, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses 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 above talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the market has diminished by more than 40% in the past few years and with the associated poverty and crime that has cropped up, it isn’t known how healthy the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will carry through till conditions get better is simply unknown.
