The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could envision that there might be little desire for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it seems to be operating the opposite way, with the critical market circumstances creating a higher desire to wager, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the crisis.
For almost all of the people living on the meager local earnings, there are two common forms of wagering, the national lottery and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lotto where the probabilities of succeeding are surprisingly low, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by economists who look at the situation that the majority do not buy a ticket with the rational assumption of hitting. Zimbet is founded on either the local or the English soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pander to the very rich of the state and tourists. Up until recently, there was a very large tourist industry, built on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated violence have cut into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, 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 gambling den, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which contain gaming tables, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has deflated by beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t understood how well the sightseeing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will survive till conditions improve is basically unknown.