The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could imagine that there would be very little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it appears to be working the other way, with the critical economic conditions creating a bigger eagerness to gamble, to attempt to locate a quick win, a way from the problems.
For the majority of the citizens surviving on the meager local earnings, there are two popular types of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the odds of winning are remarkably low, but then the jackpots are also extremely big. It’s been said by economists who look at the subject that many do not purchase a ticket with a real expectation of hitting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the British football divisions and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, pamper the extremely rich of the state and vacationers. Until recently, there was a incredibly big sightseeing industry, based on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and connected violence have cut 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 slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforementioned mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) 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 crime that has resulted, it is not well-known how healthy the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive till conditions improve is simply unknown.