The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could think that there would be little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it seems to be working the opposite way around, with the atrocious market circumstances creating a greater ambition to gamble, to attempt to find a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For nearly all of the citizens subsisting on the meager nearby money, there are two established types of gambling, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lotto where the odds of succeeding are unbelievably tiny, but then the jackpots are also very large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that many do not buy a card with an actual assumption of hitting. Zimbet is based on either the domestic or the United Kingston football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, cater to the very rich of the state and tourists. Until a short while ago, there was a very large sightseeing industry, built on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and connected crime have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree Casino, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which contain gaming tables, slots and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which offer slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously 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 metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has diminished by beyond 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has resulted, it isn’t well-known how well the sightseeing business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will survive until things get better is simply not known.