Emerald Resort & Casino is a hotel and
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
located at a private estate on the banks of the
Vaal River
The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...
in
Vanderbijlpark
Vanderbijlpark is an industrial town with approximately 95 000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist.
Vand ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. The casino opened in 1997.
Ownership
The Emerald Resort & Casino was majority-owned by
London Clubs International
Metropolitan Gaming is a British gaming company that operates eleven casinos in the United Kingdom, Egypt, and South Africa. It is owned by Silver Point Capital. The casinos began as part of Grand Metropolitan, and later became an independent com ...
, a London-based casino operator that in 2006 became a division of
Harrah's Entertainment
Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...
(later Caesars Entertainment). In May 2019, Caesars announced the sale of their 70% interest (the remaining 30% stake is owned by local minority partners) to Peermont Hotels, a Johannesburg-based hospitality and entertainment company. The deal was initially expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, but it was never completed. In July 2021, Caesars sold the entire London Clubs chain to
Metropolitan Gaming
Metropolitan Gaming is a British gaming company that operates eleven casinos in the United Kingdom, Egypt, and South Africa. It is owned by Silver Point Capital. The casinos began as part of Grand Metropolitan, and later became an independent com ...
.
Events
Emerald regularly hosts boxing matches as well as the
South African Heavyweight Championship. On February 23, 2018, reigning heavyweight champion Osborne 'Big Daddy' Machimana was defeated by knockout in the 6th round by Ruann 'Giant King' Visser.
The casino also hosted the first
World Series of Poker Africa
The World Series of Poker Africa (WSOPA) is the second expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series ...
in 2010.
Gaming
The casino offers over 430
slot machine
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...
s and 22 gaming tables including
baccarat
Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...
, five
blackjack
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
tables, nine
roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...
wheels and two poker tables in the smoking and non smoking sections. It also has a computer gaming area for kids.
See also
*
List of Caesars Entertainment properties
Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada, Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertai ...
*
List of casinos in South Africa
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerald Resort and Casino
1997 establishments in South Africa
Casinos completed in 1997
Casinos in South Africa
Casino hotels
Hotels in South Africa
Tourist attractions in Gauteng
Emfuleni
Hotel buildings completed in 1997
Hotels established in 1997