The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there might be very little affinity for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the desperate economic circumstances creating a bigger ambition to wager, to try and discover a fast win, a way out of the problems.
For many of the locals living on the abysmal nearby wages, there are two dominant forms of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the chances of winning are remarkably tiny, but then the prizes are also remarkably large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that the majority don’t buy a card with the rational assumption of winning. Zimbet is based on either the national or the UK soccer leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pamper the considerably rich of the nation and vacationers. Until a short time ago, there was a incredibly large tourist industry, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and connected crime have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming tables, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which has slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the market has deflated by more than 40 percent in recent years and with the connected deprivation and violence that has resulted, it is not understood how well the sightseeing industry which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive till conditions improve is basically unknown.