11.14
Zimbabwe gambling halls
The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a risk at the current time, so you might imagine that there would be little affinity for visiting Zimbabwe’s casinos. In fact, it seems to be operating the other way, with the awful market conditions leading to a greater eagerness to gamble, to attempt to discover a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For many of the locals subsisting on the abysmal local wages, there are two popular types of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. Just as with almost everywhere else in the world, there is a national lotto where the chances of succeeding are extremely small, but then the jackpots are also extremely big. It’s been said by economists who understand the subject that many do not buy a card with the rational expectation of profiting. Zimbet is based on either the domestic or the UK football divisions and involves determining the results of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling dens, on the other shoe, mollycoddle the considerably rich of the country and tourists. Up until a short while ago, there was a exceptionally substantial vacationing business, built on safaris and visits to Victoria Falls. The economic woes and associated violence have cut into this market.
Among Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are two in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five gaming tables and slots, and the Plumtree gambling hall, which has just the slot machines. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare contains the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the pair of which offer 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 have gaming machines and tables.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling halls and the aforestated alluded to lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably like a parimutuel betting system), there are also 2 horse racing complexes in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the market has diminished by more than 40% in recent years and with the associated deprivation and crime that has arisen, it isn’t well-known how healthy the tourist business which supports Zimbabwe’s casinos will do in the in the years to come. How many of the casinos will carry through until conditions improve is basically unknown.