The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could imagine that there might be very little desire for visiting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a larger ambition to gamble, to attempt to find a fast win, a way from the difficulty.
For almost all of the people surviving on the abysmal local earnings, there are two dominant styles of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the chances of succeeding are remarkably low, but then the prizes are also very large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the situation that the majority do not buy a ticket with a real expectation of profiting. Zimbet is centered on one of the local or the British soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, cater to the extremely rich of the country and sightseers. Until not long ago, there was a very big vacationing industry, founded on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slots. 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 two of which have table games, one armed bandits and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have gaming machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite 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 economy has diminished by more than 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and conflict that has cropped up, it isn’t well-known how healthy the vacationing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will carry through till things get better is simply not known.