The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might think that there would be little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it seems to be operating the other way, with the crucial market circumstances leading to a bigger desire to play, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For many of the people subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are two dominant styles of gambling, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the chances of hitting are surprisingly low, but then the prizes are also extremely big. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the idea that most do not purchase a ticket with the rational expectation of profiting. Zimbet is based on either the domestic or the UK football divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, look after the astonishingly rich of the society and travelers. Up until a short time ago, there was a very substantial vacationing business, based on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated conflict have cut 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 one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have table games, one armed bandits 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 have slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has diminished by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has come to pass, it is not known how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will carry through till things improve is basically unknown.