Breaking South African Casino News

28 October 2020 (Press Release) -- Thunderbolt Casino, South Africa's favourite online casino, has just unveiled an explosive new game from Realtime Gaming. Frog Fortunes is a magical rainforest adventure with Cascading Reels and Exploding Symbols.

Until November 14th, depositing players will be given 30 free spins on the new game.

“The golden frog in this game is guarding treasure hidden in the jungle many years ago,” explained Thunderbolt's manager, Alisa. “There are 243 chances of a winning combination on every spin so finding priceless jewels and artifacts isn't too hard!”

Peermont Hotels recently announced that it was entering the online betting sphere with the launch of its new PalaceBet.co.za site. We’ve heard about the sports betting platform that Peermont will launch together with online sports wagering operator, DraftKings, but who will be providing the live gaming content to the site? The latest news is that Peermont has joined forces with BetGames.TV which will see the supplier provide its entire suite of live content to the South African brand.

Gauteng’s number one land-based casino destination, Montecasino, is giving table game fans a reason to smile. Usually, casino promotions focus on slot fans only, but this time around, its table games players who get pampered.

The Tables Summer Multiplier promo at Montecasino recently kicked off and it will run until Friday, December 11th. This gives you ample time to enjoy quality table games at the casino and put yourself in line to win your share of the prizes.

The promotion is exclusive to Montecasino Tables players. You can earn double (or more!) the amount of tickets for the same amount of points earned when playing your favourite Tables games on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

This has been one monstrous year and we know that most of us won’t be sorry to see the back of 2020. But why not send off the year with one gigantic bang? If ever there was a reason to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another, 2020 is it!

South Africa’s favourite casino, Springbok Casino is ready to set the ball in motion for a fantastic party to end all parties – and is doing so with the help of a brand new slot game – Epic Holiday Party. Of course, it’s our all-favourite online casino software provider, Realtime Gaming, which has stepped in to provide the most appropriate game of all and just in time, too!

The African gaming and hospitality group, Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts has expanded its portfolio and taken some of its products online for the first time. PalaceBet.co.za was launched by the group this week, and will offer South Africans the opportunity to bet on sports and play live games.

Peermont, which operates the legendary Emperors Palace Casino, was awarded a sports betting license by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board earlier this year.

One of the unfortunate results of the Covid-19 pandemic was the economic toll placed on many industries. The South African casino industry, in particular, was hard hit, and many groups needed to make painful decisions about the future of some of their properties. One of them was Sun International, which announced the closure of several of its casinos, including the once popular casino complex, Carousel Casino in the North West province.

Sun International has now announced that the casino, which has been shut since April, is up for sale. This is to offset the brutal first half of 2020, where Sun International reported headline losses declining 615% to R885 million, compared to headline earnings of R172 million in the same period last year.

Intelligent Gaming, a Playtech owned company that supplies management systems for the land-based and mobile casino industry, has entered into a partnership with the games provider, Incentive Games to design a portfolio of titles targeting the South African gaming market. The objective is to help operators drive additional revenues by creating titles for local players that aren’t traditionally drawn to casino games.

The plan is to build the casino games on Incentive Games’ platform, and then distribute them through operators that have partnered with Intelligent Games such as Supabets. New titles will be created for the local South African market. As such players can look forw.ard to fantasy themed games and more, to incorporate into their gaming sessions.

Finally, Novomatic have decided to create a sequel to their ever-popular slot Lord of the Ocean. Yes, you heard right. Poseidon and his golden trident are back in Lord of the Ocean Magic. Similar to his brother and sister, Book of Ra and Lucky Lady’s Charm, which got numerous slot additions, Lord of the Ocean is expanding its resume too. Furthermore, it’s available exclusively to South African casino players at Yeti Casino.

The National Lottery operator, Ithuba, is waiting impatiently someone from the Free State to come forward and claim their Powerball lottery prize – an eye-watering R121 million. The winners, who may not even be aware of their good fortune, purchased the R15 Powerball ticket in Bloemfontein or Bloemspruit. The head of corporate relations for Ithuba, Busisiwe Msizi said in a statement yesterday:

“We are excited that we have produced another big jackpot winner this year. We urge all players who bought their tickets in Bloemspruit, Bloemfontein, to check their tickets,” he said.

The online casino software provider, Playtech, has launched a brand new slot game in its Gold Pile series, Toltec Treasure. One of the most popular South African-facing online casinos, Casino.com is celebrating the new release with a week-long leaderboard competition. Enter the Toltec Treasure Leaderboard promotion and put yourself in the race to grab free spins and lots of bonuses!

Deposit at SilverSands, Apollo Slots, Jackpot Cash & White Lotus Casino during the month of October 2020 and get 35% match Bonus PLUS 20 Free Spins Bonus on Halloween Treasures Slots by Real Time Gaming (RTG). In order to redeem your bonus simply make a real money deposit in the month of July.

This offer is valid until end of October and Wagering is set at 10 times the deposit, bonus received and amount obtained from the free spins.

Players cannot redeem multiple free bonuses consecutively. Standard T&C apply where necessary

October 1, 2020 Johannesburg, South Africa (Press Release) – With its beautiful scenery, great weather, modern cities and homegrown movie industry, many big budget Hollywood movies have been shot in South Africa. This month, Springbok Casino has published a feature on blockbusters shot in South Africa: Movies and the South African Connection.

“Our landscapes and cities have posed as all kinds of locations, but South Africans aren’t fooled,” said Springbok Casino manager, Daniel Van Wyke. “We know Capetown when we see it!”

Despite its lucrative offer to buy the beleaguered SA racing company, Phumelela, the British bookmaker group, Betfred, was turned down by creditors. Instead, the majority of Phumelela’s creditors voted in favour of a rescue plan involving Mary Oppenheimer and Daughters group buying up most of the assets. It should be noted that Betfred’s offer, which would have bought out the entire company, and not only part of it, was twice the amount offered by MOD.

The South African racing industry breathed a sigh of relief with the news. Phumelela is the horseracing or tote betting operator in seven out of SA’s nine provinces. The group’s severe financial difficulties placed the country’s entire horseracing industry in jeopardy, and it was crucial that a solution be found as soon as possible. SA’s horseracing industry employs over 40,000 people and pays literally hundreds of millions of Rand in taxes to the government every year.

It’s always a celebration when the iconic online casino software provider, Playtech releases a new game title, and this time, it’s no exception. Playtech’s new Wings of Gold slot has swooped into online casinos that are powered by this group, and already the reviews are proving to be very good. What makes Wings of Gold Slots so interesting is that it features an interesting historical World War theme, but incorporates one of Playtech’s futuristic features, the XtraWin feature, which adds to the winning potential.

Deposit during the month of October and get Free Spins Bonus on new Witchy Wins Slot. In order to redeem your bonus simply make a real money deposit in the month of September.

This offer is valid until end of October and Wagering is set at 30 times the deposit, bonus received and amount obtained from the free spins.

Players cannot redeem multiple free bonuses consecutively. Standard T&C apply where necessary

South Africa’s National Gambling Board has responded to the question of the legality of online gambling in the country. The authority has admitted that this question is “the subject of debate in some circles”, but has stated irrevocably that only online sports betting is allowed by law.

The questions came to light after a number of major land-based operators such as Sun International and Tsogo Sun started pushing for the expansion of their services to include online betting options, as they struggle to find ways to offset the financial damage caused by the coronavirus lockdown.

September 21, 2020, Johannesburg, South Africa (Press Release) - South Africa’s premier online casino guide, SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za, has voted Thunderbolt Casino the “Best Mobile Casino 2020”.

When deciding on the winner of the award, SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za examined hundreds of South African-facing online casinos, before settling on Thunderbolt Casino. The most important criteria considered, naturally, was gaming on a mobile platform. SouthAfricanCasinos considered aspects such as the user-friendliness of the mobile casino, the safety and security features in place, the range of mobile games available, bonuses and promotions, and easy banking methods supported by the mobile casino.

Sun International announced the reopening of its flagship resort, Sun City, after it was closed for five months during lockdown and beyond.

This comes as South Africa’s casino and hospitality operator announced that it was planning to cut jobs at some of its properties in a bid to deal with the crippling financial results from the pandemic.

The Swedish online casino software provider, NetEnt, has rolled out a new game in its Hotline slot franchise. Hotline 2 slot takes players on a wild return to the hot streets of Miami in the 80s. If this game reminds you of the American TV crime drama, Miami Vice starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, you’re right on target. The guys on the reels look strikingly familiar!

In Hotline 2 slot, NetEnt uses the popularity of the original game to leverage the new title and it’s clear that they’ve been successful in their attempts. Both games boast the same Miami-at-twilight backdrop and a retro, 80’s soundtrack, however, the soundtrack in the newer version is much better overall, and is a big part of the game’s appeal. Players are already saying that, in this case, NetEnt has vastly improved on the original, to bring us a sequel worthy of hours of play.

It has been reported that bodyguards working for South Africa’s Deputy President, David Mabuza, have run up a staggering accommodation bill of up to R10 million after they allegedly lived at the Southern Sun Emnotweni in Nelspruit fulltime for over two years. Incredibly, at least a quarter of the time that the bodyguards used these rooms happened when Mabuza wasn’t even in the vicinity.

According to a report in Sunday World, the 12 bodyguards were booked in the rooms since August 2018, and paid R1,200 a room after a ‘special’ rate was cut for them. The taxpayers undoubtedly footed the bill.