Zimbabwe gambling halls
The prospect of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you might imagine that there would be very little affinity for supporting Zimbabwe’s casinos. Actually, it appears to be functioning the other way, with the desperate market conditions leading to a larger desire to gamble, to try and find a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For almost all of the people surviving on the abysmal local wages, there are two dominant types of gaming, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the odds of hitting are remarkably tiny, but then the prizes are also extremely big. It’s been said by economists who look at the concept that the majority don’t buy a card with an actual assumption of profiting. Zimbet is founded on either the domestic or the United Kingston football leagues and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, cater to the extremely rich of the state and travelers. Up until recently, there was a very substantial sightseeing business, centered on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated conflict have carved into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree gambling den, which has just the slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which offer gaming tables, one armed bandits and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls houses the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, each of which has slot machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of two horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has diminished by more than 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and bloodshed that has cropped up, it isn’t understood how healthy the vacationing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will still be around until things improve is basically unknown.