The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you could imagine that there might be little desire for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be functioning the other way, with the desperate economic conditions creating a greater eagerness to play, to try and find a fast win, a way from the crisis.
For most of the locals living on the tiny nearby money, there are two common styles of betting, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the odds of hitting are extremely low, but then the winnings are also surprisingly high. It’s been said by economists who study the subject that many do not buy a ticket with the rational assumption of winning. Zimbet is centered on either the local or the English football divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other foot, pander to the exceedingly rich of the state and sightseers. Until a short while ago, there was a considerably large sightseeing business, founded on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected crime have cut into this trade.
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 den, which has only slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have gaming tables, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which has gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforementioned talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two 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 beyond 40% in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t well-known how well the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of them will carry through till conditions improve is merely not known.