Pretoria - The Carousel, Sun International's hotel and casino complex at Babelegi in the North West province, is undergoing a R17 million upgrade.
Riaan van Rooyen, The Carousel's general manager, said yesterday the fact it was doing the upgrade meant the casino as a business was "doing great". Van Rooyen said although the casino fell under North West's gambling jurisdiction, its market was largely from Gauteng.
"When the Gauteng gaming market exploded, we lost roughly 80 percent of our revenue and there were grave concerns about whether we would survive."
The last permanent casino facility in Gauteng "opened in November last year and The Carousel has recovered quite well. At this stage it's holding about 7 percent of the Gauteng gaming market, which is close to our target and where we believe we should be.
"With Morula (Sun) and Sun City, we previously had the whole Gauteng gaming market," he said.
Van Rooyen added The Carousel's revenues put it in fifth position out of Sun International's nine casinos. "Within Sun International, Carnival City and Grand West Casino are vying for first position."
He said the upgrade would focus on improving facilities and ensuring full compliance with the anti-tobacco and smoking legislation.