Zimbabwe Casinos
The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the moment, so you might think that there would be little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it appears to be operating the other way around, with the atrocious economic conditions creating a higher eagerness to gamble, to try and discover a quick win, a way from the difficulty.
For almost all of the citizens subsisting on the abysmal local money, there are 2 established forms of wagering, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the odds of winning are remarkably small, but then the winnings are also very large. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the idea that many don’t buy a ticket with an actual expectation of profiting. Zimbet is centered on one of the domestic or the British football divisions and involves determining the outcomes of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, mollycoddle the very rich of the society and sightseers. Up till not long ago, there was a very large tourist business, built on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated crime have cut into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and slot machines, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which contain gaming tables, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which has slot machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the above talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are a total of 2 horse racing tracks in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has deflated by beyond 40 percent in recent years and with the associated poverty and violence that has resulted, it is not known how healthy the vacationing business which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will carry through until conditions get better is basically unknown.