The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you might envision that there would be very little appetite for visiting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the critical market conditions creating a bigger ambition to play, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the situation.
For nearly all of the people subsisting on the abysmal nearby money, there are 2 established styles of betting, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the odds of winning are unbelievably small, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the concept that many don’t purchase a ticket with a real assumption of profiting. Zimbet is based on either the local or the English soccer divisions and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, pander to the considerably rich of the country and sightseers. Until recently, there was a considerably large sightseeing industry, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated violence have carved into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which has slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a pools system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has deflated by beyond 40% in recent years and with the connected poverty and bloodshed that has cropped up, it is not known how healthy the sightseeing industry which funds Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will carry on until conditions improve is merely unknown.
