The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might think that there would be little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. Actually, it appears to be operating the opposite way around, with the desperate economic conditions creating a larger ambition to wager, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For almost all of the locals subsisting on the meager local money, there are two popular forms of gaming, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lotto where the probabilities of hitting are unbelievably small, but then the winnings are also unbelievably high. It’s been said by economists who look at the situation that most don’t purchase a ticket with a real assumption of winning. Zimbet is founded on one of the national or the United Kingston soccer leagues and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, mollycoddle the very rich of the state and vacationers. Until a short time ago, there was a incredibly large vacationing industry, built on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated crime have carved into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slot machine games. 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 pair of which contain table games, one armed bandits and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which offer video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the above talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably 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.
Seeing as that the economy has shrunk by more than 40% in the past few years and with the associated poverty and crime that has come to pass, it is not known how healthy the sightseeing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will still be around until things improve is merely unknown.