The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a risk at the current time, so you could envision that there might be very little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the atrocious market circumstances leading to a higher eagerness to bet, to try and locate a quick win, a way from the situation.
For most of the locals surviving on the meager local earnings, there are two dominant forms of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of winning are unbelievably tiny, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by economists who study the concept that most don’t buy a card with a real expectation of hitting. Zimbet is built on one of the domestic or the UK football leagues and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, pander to the very rich of the state and vacationers. Up till not long ago, there was a considerably big vacationing industry, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market collapse and associated conflict have cut 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 slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare contains 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, the pair of which offer gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has shrunk by more than forty percent in recent years and with the connected deprivation and conflict that has resulted, it is not understood how well the sightseeing 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.