Casino gets new owners

Empangeni’s Tusk Umfolozi Casino will be boosted by the new ownership deal

Dave Savides

EMPANGENI’s Tusk Umfolozi Casino has new owners, but it will be ‘business as usual’ with no visible changes at present and plenty of exciting developments to come.
There will be no staff changes or retrenchments and the present management will continue.
In a deal valued at about R566-million, Peermont Global Limited has acquired the Tusk Casino Resorts and Hotels Group (‘Tusk Group’), adding five new casino resorts to the group.
Ernie Joubert, Chief Executive Officer of Peermont Global said the Tusk casinos and hotels will be re-branded and refurbished, in line with PGL’s hotel and resort brand strategies and standards.
The new acquisitions add 838 slots, 35 tables and 271 hotel rooms to Peermont Global’s existing facilities.

Upgrade
‘Tusk Umfolozi and Tusk Rio currently have no hotels,’ said Joubert.
‘We will begin to develop these properties into multi-faceted resorts which will include hotels and other entertainment and business facilities.
‘The South African gaming industry has contributed significantly to job creation and, with the introduction of the New National Gaming Act in 2004, industry players have also been able to play a part in educating casino visitors on responsible gambling.’