South African Casino GGY (Rm) 2001 – 2010 Source: National Gambling Board of South Africa
Peermont Global Limited. Established in 1995, Peermont actually started its gaming ventures in Botswana, where it was awarded its first licence for a casino, the Grand Palm. The joint venture with Marang Gaming Investments Proprietary Limited as its Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner enabled them to be awarded their first casino licence in South Africa in 1998, for the Graceland casino in Mpumalanga. With the Graceland project already being in the planning and development stage, the company partnered with the then Caesar’s Entertainment and Marang for a casino licence in Gauteng, which was awarded to them in February 1998.
The renamed Emperors Palace casino and resort was opened during Q4 1999. On 31 March 2005 Emperors Palace became 100% South African-owned. This was the result of the buyout of a 25% interest in the resort and a 50% interest in its management company, previously held by Caesar’s South Africa; a wholly owned subsidiary of the then Caesar’s Entertainment which ultimately was acquired by Harrah’s Entertainment during 2004.
On 21 December 2005, the board announced that Peermont Global had concluded agreements to acquire a controlling equity interest in the Tusk Group from the Tusk shareholders. The Tusk Group owned Tusk Mmabatho in Mafikeng, Tusk Rio in Klerksdorp, and Tusk Taung in Taung (no
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casino), in the North West; Tusk Venda in Thohoyandou, Limpopo and Tusk Umfolozi in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal.
Today, the company manages seven casinos in South Africa, one each in Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and two in North West Province. Their flagship casino is the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. The casino is one of the biggest in South Africa, with 1,724 gaming machines and 74 tables. It welcomed 4.65 million visitors in 2010, up from 4.48 million in 2009.
A third casino operator is Tsogo Sun, which is part of Tsogo Sun Holdings, the largest BEE company in the leisure industry in South Africa. They operate five casinos in the country, one each in Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and two in Mpumalanga. Tsogo Sun is owned by brewing company SABMiller.
After a decade of growing revenues, recent years have been tougher for the South African casino industry. This slowing of growth is due in part to a natural maturing of the market after a period of new property openings and in part to wider economic conditions and lower consumer spending. In the second part of our look at Africa’s casino sector we will turn our attention to emerging gaming markets aiming to replicate the success South Africa’s casinos have shown.
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