The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might imagine that there would be little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it seems to be working the other way around, with the critical economic circumstances leading to a greater ambition to wager, to try and locate a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For nearly all of the people subsisting on the abysmal local money, there are two established styles of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the odds of profiting are remarkably tiny, but then the jackpots are also extremely large. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the subject that most do not buy a card with the rational assumption of hitting. Zimbet is centered on either the national or the English football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pamper the very rich of the nation and sightseers. Up till a short while ago, there was a considerably large vacationing business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected violence have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair 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 two of which has video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has deflated by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the associated poverty and conflict that has come to pass, it isn’t well-known how well the tourist industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will be alive until conditions improve is basically unknown.