The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could think that there might be little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be functioning the opposite way, with the awful market conditions leading to a higher desire to play, to attempt to find a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For most of the citizens surviving on the tiny nearby wages, there are two established types of gaming, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lottery where the chances of profiting are surprisingly small, but then the prizes are also very big. It’s been said by financial experts who study the situation that most do not purchase a card with an actual belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the British football leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, pamper the very rich of the society and tourists. Until not long ago, there was a incredibly large tourist business, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected violence have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have gaming tables, slot machines 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 has gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has diminished by more than forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has come to pass, it is not understood how well the vacationing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive till conditions get better is basically not known.