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Two more casino licenses up for grabs
Posted on: Thursday, 10 November 2005. Article source: Eastern Cape Business News
The Eastern Cape is set to get two more casinos by 2007, and the process should begin as soon as the economic affairs department gives the green light for the invitation of applications.
The province is allowed to award five casino licences, in established zones. So far three have been issued.
Keith Harvey of the Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board said that the two zones without casinos were Zone 3, covering towns like Aliwal North, Middelburg, Graaff-Reinet and Queenstown, and Zone 4 – Elliott, Maclear, Mthatha and Port St Johns.
The final decision on where the casinos would be based was up to the bidders, he said. He refused to name any of the players, saying “such information is confidential”.
The board is unsure of the size of the casinos, but Harvey said it was “unlikely” that they would be the size of Hemingways in East London and The Boardwalk in Port Elizabeth, which cost R222-million and R533-million respectively.
He said the size of the casinos would be determined by their markets, but that a minimum investment amount would be set out in the request for proposal, which was yet to be published. “As an example, two bids were received for Queenstown in the past. The capital value of the one was R52-million, and R68-million in the case of the other.”
Harvey cited increased tourism infrastructure in the form of hotels and job creation as the two major effects of the casinos. He said hotels would bring more tourists to the areas in which the casinos were situated, and jobs would be created during the construction and operational phases.
The board is now awaiting the go ahead to invite applications, from Economic Affairs MEC Andre de Wet.
Economic affairs spokesman Joe Jordan said this go-ahead would be given as soon as the MEC was certain that everything was in order and that there were no “fundamental problems” with the process.
Jordan said that many of the details, such as the number of jobs to be created and the size of the casinos, would only be known after the tender stage.
He said that research had been done to determine how many gambling licenses to award the province, and that in terms of this research, all five of the zones were viable spots. The province’s third casino is the Wild Coast at Mbizana.
The province is allowed to award five casino licences, in established zones. So far three have been issued.
Keith Harvey of the Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board said that the two zones without casinos were Zone 3, covering towns like Aliwal North, Middelburg, Graaff-Reinet and Queenstown, and Zone 4 – Elliott, Maclear, Mthatha and Port St Johns.
The final decision on where the casinos would be based was up to the bidders, he said. He refused to name any of the players, saying “such information is confidential”.
The board is unsure of the size of the casinos, but Harvey said it was “unlikely” that they would be the size of Hemingways in East London and The Boardwalk in Port Elizabeth, which cost R222-million and R533-million respectively.
He said the size of the casinos would be determined by their markets, but that a minimum investment amount would be set out in the request for proposal, which was yet to be published. “As an example, two bids were received for Queenstown in the past. The capital value of the one was R52-million, and R68-million in the case of the other.”
Harvey cited increased tourism infrastructure in the form of hotels and job creation as the two major effects of the casinos. He said hotels would bring more tourists to the areas in which the casinos were situated, and jobs would be created during the construction and operational phases.
The board is now awaiting the go ahead to invite applications, from Economic Affairs MEC Andre de Wet.
Economic affairs spokesman Joe Jordan said this go-ahead would be given as soon as the MEC was certain that everything was in order and that there were no “fundamental problems” with the process.
Jordan said that many of the details, such as the number of jobs to be created and the size of the casinos, would only be known after the tender stage.
He said that research had been done to determine how many gambling licenses to award the province, and that in terms of this research, all five of the zones were viable spots. The province’s third casino is the Wild Coast at Mbizana.
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