The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you could envision that there might be very little appetite for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it seems to be functioning the opposite way around, with the desperate economic circumstances leading to a bigger desire to play, to try and find a quick win, a way out of the crisis.
For almost all of the locals subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are 2 popular forms of gaming, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lottery where the probabilities of winning are unbelievably low, but then the prizes are also unbelievably high. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that the lion’s share do not buy a card with a real assumption of profiting. Zimbet is centered on either the national or the English soccer divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pander to the exceedingly rich of the country and travelers. Up until not long ago, there was a exceptionally substantial tourist business, based on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated conflict have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which have table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have slot machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has diminished by beyond 40% in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and conflict that has come about, it is not known how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of them will still be around until conditions get better is simply not known.