The act of living in Zimbabwe is something of a gamble at the moment, so you may imagine that there might be very little appetite for going to Zimbabwe’s gambling dens. In fact, it seems to be operating the opposite way around, with the atrocious market conditions creating a bigger desire to wager, to try and locate a fast win, a way out of the crisis.
For almost all of the citizens subsisting on the tiny nearby money, there are 2 popular forms of gaming, the national lottery and Zimbet. As with almost everywhere else on the globe, there is a state lottery where the odds of winning are extremely tiny, but then the jackpots are also very big. It’s been said by market analysts who understand the situation that many don’t buy a card with the rational expectation of winning. Zimbet is based on either the local or the British soccer divisions and involves predicting the outcomes of future games.
Zimbabwe’s gambling halls, on the other shoe, cater to the extremely rich of the nation and travelers. Up until recently, there was a considerably substantial tourist business, built on safaris and trips to Victoria Falls. The market woes and connected crime have cut into this trade.
Among Zimbabwe’s casinos, there are 2 in the capital, Harare, the Carribea Bay Resort and Casino, which has five 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 slot machines. Mutare has the Monclair Hotel and Casino and the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino, the two of which have table games, slots and video machines, and Victoria Falls has the Elephant Hills Hotel and Casino and the Makasa Sun Hotel and Casino, both of which have gaming machines and table games.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s casinos and the aforementioned mentioned lottery and Zimbet (which is very like a parimutuel betting system), there are also two horse racing tracks in the state: the Matabeleland Turf Club in Bulawayo (the 2nd municipality) and the Borrowdale Park in Harare.
Seeing as that the economy has diminished by beyond 40 percent in the past few years and with the associated poverty and conflict that has resulted, it is not understood how well the tourist industry which supports Zimbabwe’s gambling halls will do in the next few years. How many of the casinos will be alive until conditions improve is basically unknown.
March 22nd, 2025
Abigail
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