The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the current time, so you could think that there would be little desire for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. Actually, it seems to be functioning the opposite way, with the awful market conditions creating a higher ambition to gamble, to attempt to find a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For many of the locals subsisting on the tiny local money, there are two common forms of betting, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the chances of profiting are extremely low, but then the prizes are also remarkably high. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the subject that most do not buy a card with the rational assumption of profiting. Zimbet is founded on either the local or the English football divisions and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, pamper the astonishingly rich of the state and tourists. Up till recently, there was a exceptionally large tourist business, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated bloodshed have cut into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, 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 only 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, both of which contain gaming tables, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there are a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the market has diminished by beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has arisen, it isn’t known how well the sightseeing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of them will still be around till things improve is basically not known.