The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the current time, so you might think that there might be little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be working the other way around, with the desperate market conditions creating a bigger desire to wager, to attempt to discover a fast win, a way out of the situation.
For nearly all of the people subsisting on the meager local earnings, there are 2 common forms of gaming, the national lottery and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else in the world, there is a national lottery where the chances of profiting are remarkably small, but then the jackpots are also very big. It’s been said by market analysts who study the concept that most don’t buy a ticket with the rational expectation of hitting. Zimbet is founded on one of the national or the British football leagues and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, mollycoddle the extremely rich of the state and vacationers. Up until a short time ago, there was a very large vacationing business, built on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated crime have cut into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which have gaming tables, one armed bandits and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have slot machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the above alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has contracted by more than forty percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has come to pass, it is not known how healthy the vacationing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the near future. How many of the casinos will carry on till conditions get better is basically unknown.