The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you might think that there would be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it seems to be working the opposite way, with the awful market conditions creating a bigger desire to bet, to try and locate a fast win, a way out of the problems.
For many of the citizens subsisting on the tiny local money, there are two popular types of betting, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lotto where the chances of winning are remarkably low, but then the prizes are also very large. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the concept that many don’t buy a card with a real belief of profiting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the British soccer divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, pamper the incredibly rich of the nation and sightseers. Up till a short time ago, there was a considerably large sightseeing industry, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated violence have carved into this trade.
Among 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 just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slot machines. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which contain table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have video poker machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has contracted by beyond 40 percent in the past few years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has cropped up, it isn’t understood how well the sightseeing business which funds Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of them will survive till things improve is simply not known.