The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could envision that there would be very little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it appears to be operating the opposite way around, with the atrocious economic conditions leading to a bigger eagerness to bet, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the situation.
For almost all of the people subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are 2 popular types of gaming, the national lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of hitting are unbelievably small, but then the prizes are also very big. It’s been said by economists who study the subject that many do not buy a ticket with an actual assumption of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the local or the British soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pamper the astonishingly rich of the country and vacationers. Up till a short while ago, there was a very large vacationing business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and connected conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slots. 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 offer table games, slots and video 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 blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the economy has shrunk by beyond forty percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and crime that has come to pass, it is not known how healthy the vacationing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will still be around till conditions improve is merely not known.