The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you could think that there would be little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be working the opposite way around, with the crucial market conditions leading to a greater desire to gamble, to attempt to discover a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For many of the citizens surviving on the meager local earnings, there are 2 established styles of gaming, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the odds of winning are unbelievably low, but then the jackpots are also surprisingly big. It’s been said by market analysts who study the subject that the lion’s share do not purchase a card with an actual expectation of hitting. Zimbet is founded on one of the domestic or the UK football leagues and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, mollycoddle the exceedingly rich of the country and travelers. Up till recently, there was a incredibly large tourist business, founded on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected violence 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 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slot machines. Mutare contains 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 has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which has gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 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 diminished by beyond 40% in the past few years and with the associated deprivation and crime that has come about, it is not understood how healthy the vacationing industry which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will still be around until conditions get better is simply not known.
