The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you might imagine that there might be very little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be operating the other way, with the awful economic conditions leading to a larger eagerness to wager, to attempt to locate a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For many of the locals subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are 2 dominant types of gambling, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lottery where the odds of hitting are surprisingly small, but then the winnings are also extremely big. It’s been said by market analysts who study the subject that many do not purchase a ticket with a real belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on one of the local or the United Kingston football leagues and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, cater to the astonishingly rich of the country and tourists. Until recently, there was a very big vacationing business, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and connected violence have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slots. 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, the pair of which offer gaming tables, one armed bandits and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which has gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has diminished by more than forty percent in recent years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has resulted, it is not understood how healthy the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will survive until conditions get better is merely unknown.