The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might think that there might be very little desire for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it appears to be working the other way around, with the awful market conditions leading to a higher desire to play, to try and locate a quick win, a way out of the situation.
For many of the citizens surviving on the abysmal nearby money, there are two popular forms of wagering, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lotto where the probabilities of winning are surprisingly low, but then the prizes are also extremely big. It’s been said by economists who look at the subject that most don’t buy a ticket with an actual belief of hitting. Zimbet is built on either the local or the British soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, look after the incredibly rich of the state and tourists. Until a short while ago, there was a considerably large tourist business, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated crime have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, 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 Casino, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer table games, slot machines and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there are also two 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 beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has cropped up, it is not known how well the tourist business which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will survive until conditions improve is merely unknown.