The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you may think that there would be little affinity for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be functioning the other way, with the critical economic conditions creating a greater eagerness to play, to attempt to locate a quick win, a way out of the problems.
For most of the citizens subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are two established forms of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a state lotto where the odds of succeeding are unbelievably tiny, but then the prizes are also extremely high. It’s been said by financial experts who study the subject that many don’t purchase a card with an actual expectation of winning. Zimbet is based on either the national or the British football divisions and involves predicting the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other shoe, look after the very rich of the society and sightseers. Until a short while ago, there was a extremely substantial sightseeing industry, based on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated conflict have carved into this trade.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has only slot machines. 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 pair of which have table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which have video poker machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a pools system), there are also two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has shrunk by more than 40 percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has arisen, it isn’t well-known how healthy the vacationing industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the next few years. How many of them will carry through till conditions get better is basically unknown.
