The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you might think that there would be little desire for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be operating the opposite way around, with the crucial market circumstances creating a higher ambition to play, to attempt to discover a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For many of the people subsisting on the abysmal nearby wages, there are 2 popular types of wagering, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the odds of profiting are unbelievably low, but then the jackpots are also unbelievably large. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the situation that the lion’s share don’t purchase a card with a real belief of winning. Zimbet is built on either the local or the UK soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, mollycoddle the very rich of the country and tourists. Up until a short time ago, there was a extremely big vacationing industry, centered on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated violence have carved into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which have table games, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has shrunk by beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated deprivation and conflict that has arisen, it isn’t well-known how well the vacationing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of them will survive till conditions get better is merely unknown.