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The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there might be little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be working the other way around, with the atrocious market circumstances creating a bigger desire to play, to attempt to locate a quick win, a way from the problems.
For almost all of the citizens surviving on the abysmal local money, there are two dominant styles of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the chances of profiting are extremely small, but then the prizes are also surprisingly high. It’s been said by economists who look at the situation that the majority do not purchase a ticket with a real expectation of winning. Zimbet is founded on either the national or the United Kingston football leagues and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, look after the exceedingly rich of the country and travelers. Up until a short time ago, there was a considerably large vacationing business, founded on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected violence have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, 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 Casino, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have table games, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have gaming 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 a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has diminished by more than 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and violence that has cropped up, it is not known how healthy the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of them will survive till things get better is simply not known.
