The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might envision that there would be little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it appears to be working the other way around, with the desperate market conditions leading to a bigger eagerness to play, to attempt to find a fast win, a way from the crisis.
For the majority of the people living on the abysmal local money, there are two dominant forms of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of winning are surprisingly small, but then the winnings are also remarkably high. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the concept that the lion’s share don’t buy a card with the rational expectation of profiting. Zimbet is built on either the domestic or the English football leagues and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, mollycoddle the astonishingly rich of the country and vacationers. Up until a short while ago, there was a exceptionally large sightseeing business, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated crime 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 slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, 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 two of which contain gaming tables, one armed bandits and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have 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 parimutuel betting system), there are a total of two horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has contracted by beyond 40% in the past few years and with the connected poverty and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t well-known how well the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will carry on till things get better is simply unknown.
