The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you may think that there would be little appetite for visiting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it seems to be functioning the other way, with the desperate economic conditions creating a larger desire to wager, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For the majority of the citizens subsisting on the tiny nearby wages, there are 2 popular forms of wagering, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the odds of hitting are unbelievably low, but then the prizes are also extremely large. It’s been said by economists who study the subject that the majority do not buy a card with a real belief of profiting. Zimbet is based on one of the local or the English soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, pamper the considerably rich of the state and sightseers. Until a short time ago, there was a extremely big sightseeing industry, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated crime have carved into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has only slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which have slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has diminished by more than 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t known how well the tourist business which funds Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will survive until conditions get better is basically unknown.