The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you might think that there would be little appetite for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it seems to be functioning the other way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a higher ambition to play, to try and discover a quick win, a way from the difficulty.
For many of the locals living on the meager nearby earnings, there are two established forms of gambling, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lotto where the chances of hitting are unbelievably low, but then the prizes are also extremely large. It’s been said by economists who look at the situation that many do not purchase a card with the rational belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on either the local or the English soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other hand, cater to the incredibly rich of the nation and tourists. Up till not long ago, there was a extremely substantial sightseeing industry, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have gaming tables, one armed bandits and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforementioned talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has diminished by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has come to pass, it is not well-known how well the vacationing industry which funds Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will be alive until things get better is simply not known.