History
The group was established in 1969, when hotelier Sol Kerzner founded the chain of Southern Sun Hotels in partnership with South African Breweries.[13]
Prior to 1994, the group's gambling operations were limited to those hotels located in Apartheid-era bantustans, as gambling in the rest of South Africa was heavily restricted. When the new democratic government came to power, gambling was legalised, which enabled the group to add 14 gaming destinations to its portfolio.[14]
Through a process of bid applications, the group acquired five casino licences: Emnotweni (Nelspruit), The Ridge, Hemingways, Montecasino and Suncoast.[15]
Two additional casinos, The Caledon and Blackrock (formerly known as Century Casino), were added to the group's portfolio in 2009 by acquiring Century Resorts Limited and Winlen Casino Operators (Pty) Limited. Subsequently, a further seven casinos were added to the portfolio through the reverse buy-out of Gold Reef Resorts in 2011: Gold Reef City, Silverstar, Queens, Mykonos, Goldfields, Golden Horse and Garden Route.[16][17][18]
In May 2014, the group announced that it had entered into transaction agreements resulting in Tsogo Sun acquiring a 40% equity interest each in SunWest International and Worcester Casinos. This transaction gave the group a stake in all five casinos located in the Western Cape.[19] However the deal failed and subsequently in 2016 an agreement was reached that gave Tsogo Sun a 20% stake in SunWest International and the Worcester Casino.[20]
As of 1 June 2017[21] the Tsogo Sun CEO was Jacques Booysen.[22] Jacques Booysen previously served as managing director of Gaming at Tsogo Sun Holdings since April 2007.[23]
The group notified shareholders on 15 March 2019[24] of a proposed restructuring that would result in a separation of hotel and gaming interests and separate JSE listing[25] of Tsogo Sun Hotels and Tsogo Sun Gaming.
As of 12 June 2019 Tsogo Sun was split into Tsogo Sun and Tsogo Sun Hotels. Tsogo Sun Hotels (now Southern Sun) includes individually branded hotels such as the luxury Beverly Hills and Palazzo as well as hotel brands that include Southern Sun Hotels, Garden Court, SunSquare and Hi Hotels.[26][27]
Tsogo Sun Gaming includes casinos precincts such as Montecasino and Gold Reef City as well as ownership of Galaxy Bingo[28] that operates 23 bingo venues across South Africa and V Slots[29] a leading supplier of Limited Pay Out slot machines. In 2020 Tsogo Sun Gaming acquired a majority ownership of South African sports betting website Bet.co.za.[1]
