Cape casino move: who gets left behind?
COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE’: Relocating casinos could have a dire impact on some rural communities.
Cape Town – Plans to relocate one of the casinos in the outlying areas of the province to the more lucrative Cape metropole have raised concerns about the economic impact it will have on those areas.
The Cape Argus can exclusively reveal that the City of Cape Town has received an application for rezoning the Somerset Country Club to allow business activities and the development of a casino with a hotel.
The applicants are Southern Sun Hotels and Messrs Headland Planners. Southern Sun Hotels is a division of Tsogo Sun.
The Somerset Country Club is on the corner of the R102 (Strand Road) and the N2.
According to a notice by the Helderberg Basin Subcouncil in a notice from the City’s transport and urban development authority, the plan is to subdivide the property into five portions.
These would include a general business zone, one for the development of a casino and multiple-level parking garage and another for the development of a 120-room hotel. The notice is undersigned by DA councillor Gregory Pick.
Tsogo Sun has yet to confirm whether they are going ahead with the development, but the City has given residents till August 6 to lodge objections.
The Cape Argus reported last week on the Draft Western Cape Nineteenth Gambling and Racing Amendment Bill, 2018, which seeks to amend the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Act (Act 4 of 1996).
The new legislation would permit the moving of existing casinos to other areas.
Casinos were established in five of the province’s district municipal regions, and owners were each granted a licence to operate a casino exclusively for a 10-year period in a designated area. The exclusivity periods have now expired.
There are now proposals to make casino licences available in the City’s eastern region (Somerset West, Strand) and in the Table Bay and Tygerberg area.
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