The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you might imagine that there would be very little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it appears to be operating the other way, with the awful market circumstances creating a bigger desire to wager, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the difficulty.
For the majority of the locals living on the abysmal local wages, there are two popular styles of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the probabilities of hitting are surprisingly low, but then the prizes are also very big. It’s been said by economists who understand the situation that many do not purchase a ticket with the rational assumption of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the domestic or the British football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, pamper the astonishingly rich of the nation and travelers. Up till recently, there was a considerably substantial tourist business, based on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated crime have carved into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which contain gaming tables, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the market has deflated by beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and violence that has resulted, it is not known how healthy the sightseeing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will carry on till things improve is simply not known.