The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may imagine that there would be very little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it appears to be working the opposite way around, with the awful economic circumstances leading to a greater desire to bet, to attempt to find a fast win, a way from the difficulty.
For nearly all of the people subsisting on the tiny local earnings, there are two established types of betting, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the chances of profiting are unbelievably low, but then the jackpots are also extremely big. It’s been said by financial experts who understand the situation that many don’t buy a ticket with a real belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on one of the local or the United Kingston football divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, pander to the astonishingly rich of the country and travelers. Up until a short time ago, there was a incredibly large vacationing business, based on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and connected conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slot machine games. 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, the pair of which offer table games, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are also two horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has contracted by more than 40% in the past few years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has arisen, it is not known how healthy the sightseeing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry on until conditions get better is simply not known.
