5 Jan 09

[ English ]

The entire process of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you could imagine that there might be very little desire for patronizing Zimbabwe’s casinos. In reality, it appears to be operating the opposite way, with the desperate economic circumstances leading to a bigger ambition to gamble, to attempt to find a fast win, a way from the difficulty.

For almost all of the citizens living on the abysmal local money, there are 2 dominant forms of gaming, the state lotto and Zimbet. As with practically everywhere else on the globe, there is a national lotto where the probabilities of succeeding are remarkably small, but then the prizes are also unbelievably high. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the situation that the majority do not buy a card with an actual belief of profiting. Zimbet is founded on one of the domestic or the United Kingston football leagues and involves predicting the results of future matches.

Zimbabwe’s casinos, on the other foot, pander to the considerably rich of the country and sightseers. Up till not long ago, there was a extremely substantial sightseeing business, founded on nature trips and visits to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected conflict have carved into this market.

Amongst Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, 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 hall, which has just the slots. The Zambesi Valley Hotel and Entertainment Center in Kariba also has just slots. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, both of which contain gaming tables, slots and video poker machines, and Victoria Falls has 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 gambling halls and the aforementioned talked about lottery and Zimbet (which is considerably 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 percent in the past few years and with the connected deprivation and violence that has arisen, it is not 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 carry on till conditions get better is basically not known.