The act of living in Zimbabwe is somewhat of a gamble at the current time, so you might think that there would be little desire for supporting Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it seems to be functioning the opposite way, with the atrocious market conditions leading to a larger desire to play, to try and discover a quick win, a way out of the crisis.
For most of the people living on the tiny local money, there are 2 common types of gambling, the national lotto and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lotto where the chances of hitting are surprisingly tiny, but then the prizes are also remarkably large. It’s been said by financial experts who study the concept that the majority do not buy a ticket with an actual assumption of hitting. Zimbet is based on either the domestic or the UK soccer leagues and involves predicting the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other hand, pamper the incredibly rich of the country and tourists. Up till a short while ago, there was a considerably big vacationing industry, founded on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market anxiety and associated conflict have cut into this trade.
Amongst 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 only slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has only one armed bandits. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which contain table games, slot machines and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the previously alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a pools system), there is a total of two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second metropolis) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has diminished by more than forty percent in recent years and with the connected poverty and conflict that has come about, it is not known how well the vacationing business which is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will carry through till conditions get better is merely not known.