The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you might think that there would be very little appetite for visiting Zimbabwe’s gambling halls. In reality, it seems to be functioning the other way, with the critical market conditions leading to a bigger desire to bet, to try and discover a quick win, a way from the situation.
For almost all of the locals subsisting on the tiny local money, there are 2 established styles of gaming, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with most everywhere else in the world, there is a national lottery where the odds of hitting are remarkably low, but then the prizes are also remarkably large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the idea that most don’t purchase a card with the rational belief of profiting. Zimbet is centered on either the national or the United Kingston football divisions and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, look after the very rich of the country and travelers. Up until not long ago, there was a very large sightseeing business, based on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated crime 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 one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machine games. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have table games, one armed bandits and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which have gaming machines and blackjack, roulette, and craps tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is quite 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.
Seeing as that the market has deflated by more than 40% in recent years and with the associated deprivation and bloodshed that has come to pass, it isn’t understood how well the tourist business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will still be around until things improve is simply unknown.
