The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you could imagine that there would be little appetite for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it appears to be functioning the opposite way around, with the desperate market conditions creating a bigger ambition to gamble, to try and locate a quick win, a way from the difficulty.
For the majority of the people living on the tiny nearby wages, there are two dominant types of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the odds of succeeding are extremely small, but then the jackpots are also very large. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the subject that the majority do not buy a ticket with a real expectation of profiting. Zimbet is built on one of the domestic or the English football leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pander to the considerably rich of the society and sightseers. Up till recently, there was a considerably substantial vacationing industry, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated bloodshed have carved into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two 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 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 gaming tables, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has deflated by more than 40 percent in recent years and with the connected deprivation and conflict that has arisen, it isn’t well-known how well the sightseeing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the near future. How many of them will survive till conditions improve is merely not known.