The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the current time, so you could envision that there might be little affinity for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be functioning the opposite way around, with the desperate market conditions creating a larger desire to wager, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For nearly all of the citizens living on the abysmal local wages, there are two dominant types of gambling, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically 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 large. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the concept that most do not buy a card with a real assumption of profiting. Zimbet is built on one of the local or the UK football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pamper the astonishingly rich of the nation and tourists. Until a short time ago, there was a considerably big vacationing business, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected crime have carved into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming tables, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have gaming machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has shrunk by more than 40% in recent years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has come about, it is not known how healthy the vacationing business which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will survive till conditions get better is simply not known.
