Sun International is a South African

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

and

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship of a host towards a guest, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill and welcome. This includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, ...

company, founded by Sol Kerzner in 1967. Sun International owns diverse assets, including the Sun City resort near

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a town at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West (South African province), North West province, South Africa (549 ...

, in the

North West Province North West ( ; ) is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre and province of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of ...

, and an online gambling platform. Specializing in gambling and hospitality, the company has 42.5% of the South African

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

market share, and owns or holds a significant interest in 11 out of the 38 operating casinos in South Africa.

History

Their hotel business traces its roots back to 1967, when the Southern Sun Hotel Company was created when

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Bu ...

and South African businessman Sol Kerzner joined forces. By 1983, Southern Sun Hotels was operating 35 hotels, and generating a net income of $35 million. At this time, South African Breweries split its hotel interests into two and Sun International, headed by Sol Kerzner, retained all of the casino hotels located in the areas that South Africa had designated as "independent homelands" and had Southern Sun as a 20% stakeholder. Sol Kerzner sold his shares in Southern Sun to focus on Sun International (South Africa). Southern Sun retained the company's other hotels in South Africa, and remained focused on the hotel market rather than casinos. 1984 saw the commencement of Kersaf Investments Limited, a company that took great interest in Sun International (South Africa). This commencement was by a scheme of arrangement, such that Sun International would form one of Kersaf's subsidiaries. Kersaf was more focused on cinemas, restaurants, shopping and leisure at first, but as the next twenty years passed, its hotel and casino interests thrived under the Sun International brand, and slowly Kersaf began to dispose of its other interests and acquire more share in Sun International. After the end of Apartheid in South Africa in 1994, the so-called homelands were re-integrated into the new South Africa. This allowed Southern Sun to develop its own gambling resorts, and begin to compete increasingly with Sun International. In 2000, Southern Sun sold its stake in Sun International to Kersaf Investments Limited, who then continued to acquire minority interests in Sun International. In 2004, Kersaf Investments Limited merged with Sun International to form Sun International Limited, the company that exists today. In early 2015, Sun International sold its hotels in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Minor International Minor International is a Thai multi-national company based in Bangkok, Thailand. The three core businesses of Minor International are hospitality, restaurants, and lifestyle brands distribution, operated under subsidiary companies Minor Hotels ...

. Since mid-2015, these have been run as hotels of the Avani Group. As of 2023, Sun International Limited owns or is involved in 13 hotels, casinos, and resorts.

Properties

Today, Sun International's operations include integrated resorts, luxury hotel products, limited payout machine slot routes, as well as casinos. Sun City Resort plays host to the

Nedbank Golf Challenge The Nedbank Golf Challenge, previously known as the Million Dollar Challenge, is an annual men's professional golf tournament played at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, North West province, South Africa. It was first played in 1981 a ...

annually.

References

{{Witwatersrand companies Companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in South Africa Companies based in Sandton Gambling companies of South Africa Hospitality companies of South Africa Hotels in South Africa InterContinental Hotels Group brands Casinos in South Africa Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

History

Properties

See also

References