The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may envision that there would be very little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. Actually, it appears to be operating the opposite way, with the awful economic conditions creating a larger eagerness to gamble, to try and locate a quick win, a way out of the difficulty.
For many of the locals subsisting on the tiny local money, there are 2 dominant forms of gaming, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the odds of hitting are remarkably small, but then the jackpots are also very large. It’s been said by economists who look at the idea that the lion’s share do not purchase a card with an actual belief of profiting. Zimbet is centered on either the local or the United Kingston soccer leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, pamper the extremely rich of the country and travelers. Up till recently, there was a very big sightseeing business, built on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and connected crime have carved into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machines. 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 electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has diminished by more than 40 percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has resulted, it is not understood how healthy the tourist business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will carry through until things improve is merely not known.