The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the current time, so you might imagine that there might be little desire for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the desperate economic circumstances leading to a larger eagerness to play, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way from the situation.
For the majority of the locals subsisting on the meager local money, there are two dominant styles of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the odds of hitting are unbelievably small, but then the winnings are also unbelievably large. It’s been said by economists who understand the situation that the lion’s share don’t buy a ticket with a real expectation of hitting. Zimbet is based on one of the national or the British football divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, cater to the considerably rich of the country and tourists. Up till a short while ago, there was a exceptionally large vacationing industry, centered on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated violence have cut into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which contain table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which has slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the above alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there are also 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has shrunk by more than 40 percent in recent years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has resulted, it isn’t understood how healthy the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will carry through till conditions improve is basically unknown.