The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you could imagine that there would be very little appetite for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it appears to be operating the other way, with the crucial market conditions leading to a higher ambition to play, to attempt to discover a quick win, a way out of the difficulty.
For most of the locals surviving on the tiny local money, there are two dominant forms of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. Just as with most everywhere else on the planet, there is a national lottery where the odds of succeeding are surprisingly small, but then the prizes are also very big. It’s been said by economists who look at the concept that the majority don’t buy a ticket with a real belief of hitting. Zimbet is based on one of the domestic or the UK soccer leagues and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other hand, pamper the very rich of the nation and tourists. Up till recently, there was a considerably big sightseeing industry, based on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic collapse and associated violence have carved into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two 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 slot machines. 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, both of which have table games, slots and electronic poker machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, the two of which have gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the previously talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there is a total of 2 horse racing complexes in the country: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Given that the market has shrunk by beyond 40% in recent years and with the connected deprivation and conflict that has come about, it is not understood how well the vacationing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the in the years to come. How many of them will be alive till conditions get better is merely unknown.
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