THURSDAY, 10.00AM
A LOCAL consortium involved in a bid for a licence to operate a casino on the banks of the Vaal river has sold a 50% stake in the venture to a Malaysain company for R350-million.
The Nokeng Consortium, made up of women’s empowerment groups Business Ventures 2000 and Khanya Women 2000, and the SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union, Mathibe Group, Moridale Investments, Philanthropic Universal Investments and the Tswelopele Consortium, in partnership with Hyatt Hotels, the Southern Pacific Hotel Group and Regency Casinos, is finalising two-year-long preparations for its bid to the Gauteng Betting Board before the June 17 deadline.
Consortium chairman Griffiths Zabala said the Nokeng Consortium will control the casino, while Regency Casinos, the wholly owned subsidiary of Hyatt Hotels International, will manage it on Nokeng’s behalf. Zabala added that the Malaysians will not repatriate revenue from the casino, but will reinvest it in SA.
It is believed Sun International’s Afrisun is to submit a competing bid for a casino in nearby Vereeniging.