The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you could imagine that there would be very little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be functioning the other way around, with the atrocious market conditions leading to a bigger ambition to bet, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the situation.
For almost all of the people subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are two popular forms of gambling, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the odds of winning are extremely low, but then the jackpots are also surprisingly big. It’s been said by financial experts who study the idea that the majority do not buy a ticket with the rational assumption of winning. Zimbet is founded on either the national or the British soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, pander to the extremely rich of the country and sightseers. Up until a short time ago, there was a considerably substantial vacationing industry, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and connected bloodshed 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 slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which have slot machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a pools system), there are also two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has deflated by more than forty percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and crime that has come about, it isn’t understood how healthy the sightseeing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will carry on until conditions get better is merely unknown.