The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you could think that there would be little desire for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it appears to be functioning the opposite way around, with the desperate market circumstances creating a bigger eagerness to play, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For many of the locals subsisting on the meager nearby money, there are 2 established types of wagering, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lotto where the chances of winning are extremely tiny, but then the winnings are also unbelievably large. It’s been said by market analysts who study the concept that many do not purchase a ticket with the rational expectation of profiting. Zimbet is built on one of the local or the English soccer leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, cater to the extremely rich of the nation and vacationers. Up until recently, there was a very substantial tourist industry, based on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated violence have cut into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only 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 two of which have gaming tables, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has contracted by beyond 40% in recent years and with the connected poverty and crime that has come about, it is not understood how well the sightseeing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry through until conditions improve is basically not known.