The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the current time, so you may imagine that there would be very little affinity for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be working the other way around, with the crucial economic conditions leading to a bigger ambition to bet, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the crisis.
For almost all of the people subsisting on the abysmal local earnings, there are two established types of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the chances of hitting are unbelievably low, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that the lion’s share do not buy a ticket with an actual assumption of hitting. Zimbet is built on either the domestic or the United Kingston football leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, pamper the exceedingly rich of the country and tourists. Up till a short while ago, there was a very substantial sightseeing industry, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated bloodshed have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which contain table games, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforestated mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there are a total of 2 horse racing tracks 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 beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the connected poverty and bloodshed that has cropped up, it isn’t known how healthy the tourist industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will still be around until conditions get better is merely not known.
