Sun International Not Happy With New Casino Legislation

The enactment of the Western Cape Nineteenth Gambling and Racing Amendment Bill, 2018 will force local operators to relocate their casinos to the newly dedicated Trade Bay region in the Eastern area. Gambling operators have opposed this move in the past but it appears that it could very much be on the cards as the final step is for legislative committee to review the bill.

Sun International Not Keen On Re-location

Sun International is not happy with the proposal and has called on legislators to not pass the bill as it would result in significant losses for their operations and the layoff of hundreds of casino employees. Should the bill be tabled, Sun International will have two casino properties that will be impacted – Golden Valley Casino near Worcester and GrandWest Casino in Cape Town.

In a statement, Anthony Leeming, CEO of Sun International said “The majority of job losses will be from the casino but a drop in footfall will result in additional and similar job losses in the supporting operations at GrandWest Casino as many of these businesses are entirely dependent on footfall generated by the casino. If Worcester is to close, 92 employees are forecast to lose their jobs alongside a reduction of $680,750 in supplier spend.”

Tsogo Sun More Open To Re-location Idea

The legislative committee would have been under a lot more pressure had Tsogo Sun shared a similar stance as Sun International. Tsogo Sun which is one of the biggest casino operators in South Africa has taken a mixed stance towards the new casino regulation and said that it would be open to the possibility of re-location as long as the process was carried out in a manner that made good business sense.

Tsogo Sun has said that it will review the draft casino legislation and then submit its feedback on the proposed legislation before the end of this month.