The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you could think that there would be little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it seems to be functioning the other way, with the atrocious economic conditions creating a higher ambition to gamble, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For nearly all of the locals subsisting on the tiny local money, there are 2 established forms of wagering, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the odds of hitting are remarkably tiny, but then the jackpots are also very big. It’s been said by economists who study the idea that the majority don’t buy a ticket with a real belief of winning. Zimbet is based on either the national or the British soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pander to the incredibly rich of the country and tourists. Until recently, there was a considerably substantial tourist industry, based on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and connected bloodshed have carved into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slot machines. 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 contain table games, slot machines and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforementioned alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a pools system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has contracted by more than forty percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and crime that has come about, it is not well-known how well the tourist industry which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of them will be alive till things improve is simply unknown.