The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the moment, so you could envision that there would be little affinity for visiting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In fact, it seems to be functioning the other way around, with the awful market circumstances leading to a bigger ambition to gamble, to attempt to locate a fast win, a way out of the problems.
For most of the locals subsisting on the meager local earnings, there are two common styles of betting, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lotto where the probabilities of hitting are unbelievably low, but then the prizes are also surprisingly large. It’s been said by financial experts who look at the situation that the majority don’t buy a card with a real assumption of hitting. Zimbet is built on either the national or the United Kingston football divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other foot, pamper the very rich of the society and sightseers. Up till recently, there was a considerably large tourist business, centered on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market woes and associated violence have cut into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the 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 two of which offer gaming tables, slots and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which offer slot machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforestated mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has diminished by beyond 40 percent in recent years and with the associated deprivation and violence that has come about, it is not known how well the vacationing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will still be around until things get better is simply unknown.