[
English ]
The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may think that there would be little affinity for patronizing Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In reality, it appears to be working the opposite way, with the atrocious economic circumstances leading to a higher eagerness to play, to attempt to discover a fast win, a way from the difficulty.
For most of the citizens subsisting on the tiny local wages, there are 2 common forms of gambling, the state lottery and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else in the world, there is a state lottery where the probabilities of hitting are surprisingly small, but then the winnings are also very large. It’s been said by market analysts who look at the subject that most don’t buy a ticket with the rational expectation of profiting. Zimbet is founded on either the domestic or the English soccer divisions and involves determining the results of future matches.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, look after the extremely rich of the country and sightseers. Until a short time ago, there was a very substantial sightseeing business, centered on nature trips and trips to Victoria Falls. The economic anxiety and associated conflict have carved into this market.
Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has 5 gaming tables and one armed bandits, and the Plumtree Casino, which has just the slot machine games. 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, both of which contain gaming tables, slot machines and video 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 table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens and the aforestated talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is quite like a parimutuel betting system), there are also two horse racing complexes in the nation: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the second city) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Since the economy has shrunk by beyond 40% in recent years and with the associated poverty and bloodshed that has come about, it isn’t understood how healthy the vacationing business which is the foundation for Zimbabwe’s gambling dens will do in the near future. How many of them will survive until things improve is simply not known.
