The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you could imagine that there would be very little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it seems to be working the other way, with the atrocious market conditions creating a higher eagerness to wager, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the difficulty.
For most of the people subsisting on the meager local wages, there are 2 popular forms of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the odds of succeeding are extremely small, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the subject that many do not purchase a ticket with the rational belief of winning. Zimbet is centered on one of the domestic or the UK football leagues and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, mollycoddle the very rich of the country and tourists. Up till a short time ago, there was a considerably big vacationing industry, founded on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated crime have cut into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slots. 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, slots and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 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 economy has diminished by more than 40 percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has resulted, it is not well-known how healthy the vacationing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of them will carry through till things improve is simply unknown.