The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you might envision that there might be little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be functioning the opposite way around, with the atrocious economic conditions creating a bigger desire to play, to attempt to discover a quick win, a way out of the situation.
For the majority of the people subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are two popular styles of gambling, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a state lotto where the chances of hitting are remarkably low, but then the jackpots are also surprisingly large. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the concept that many don’t buy a card with a real belief of winning. Zimbet is centered on either the local or the United Kingston football divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, look after the very rich of the country and travelers. Up until recently, there was a extremely large sightseeing business, founded on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and connected bloodshed have cut into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slot machines. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer gaming tables, slot machines and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which offer gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforementioned alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has contracted by more than 40 percent in recent years and with the associated deprivation and crime that has arisen, it isn’t understood how well the sightseeing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will carry through until things improve is simply unknown.