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The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you could imagine that there might be little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the awful economic circumstances creating a greater desire to bet, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For almost all of the people subsisting on the meager nearby earnings, there are two dominant forms of gambling, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of winning are remarkably low, but then the winnings are also remarkably high. It’s been said by economists who understand the subject that many do not buy a ticket with the rational assumption of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the United Kingston soccer divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, cater to the considerably rich of the society and tourists. Until a short while ago, there was a exceptionally big tourist business, founded on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated conflict have carved into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, 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 den, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both 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 offer video poker machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the market has diminished by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has come about, it is not known how well the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will carry on until conditions get better is merely unknown.
