Streams of tourists feed the land they are going through. In cities with large tourist attractions like Rome or Paris, the economy is booming because of the sheer volume of people who visit them. Even though it is rather developed, South African online gambling does nothing to attract visitors to the country. Land-based South African casinos, on the contrary, bring in thousands of people.
What South African casinos offer
Why is it that so many people are found in the cities where there are many casinos? Perhaps it is because South African casinos are not merely casinos. In recent years many became entertainment hubs. Here is what you can find in local casinos.
Gambling
Gambling is what people normally look for in a great casino. South African casinos keep the standards high in this respect. You can gamble like a king, even on a short budget.
Casino floors look amazing, and you can find pretty much any game on it. Bet limits are designed to bring in people with different wallet sizes.
Food
Whenever there’s a casino, there’s bound to be a restaurant. In fact, there are so many restaurants and bars around casinos that serving gamblers becomes an industry of its own.
If you browse the area around your casino long enough, you can find pretty much any type of cuisine.
Family fun
If you came with your family, your children don’t have to become typical gambler’s kids and just sit around while you bet. There is so much fun you can have with them.
From AquaDome waterpark at Emerald Resort to karting at Meropa Casino, you can share the fun with your children. For those who fell in love with the official South African travel site, there are small zoos and wildlife park excursions available at many hotels that are situated near national parks.
Shows are also a big thing in casinos. Empreror’s Palace has the biggest cinema in South Africa. Many other establishments offer theater shows, comedy, and concerts to their guests. The nightlife is booming around casinos as well.
Arguably it is this feature of modern South African casinos that attracts people the most. It has entertainment for all.
Golf
Land-based casinos have something for everyone, even for people who prefer to spend their day on the green rather than indoors. Meropa has a mini-golf course, and Graceland sports one of the largest golf courses in Africa. With the kinds of people who come in to gamble and play, you can only imagine what connections you may establish.
How African casinos impact tourism
Since land-based casinos have turned into giants of entertainment, this attracts tourists. Cities, where there is more than one casino, are even better off, as this increases the number of visitors.
People come to one casino and wander around the others. This doesn’t just increase the revenue of neighboring casinos but increases spending all across the economy. When people win some money, they are very likely to spend it in the same city.
A report by the Gambling Commission suggests that the gambling industry employs about 3% of people in South Africa indirectly. This number, however, doesn’t reflect the number of jobs created in the restaurant business and showbusiness that serve gamblers in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The number of people staying overnight grew 11% in the period between 2015 and 2016. This growth shows no signs of stopping. It is hard to state how much are land-based casinos responsible for this increase, but they surely contribute their fair share.
Is South Africa going to become African Las Vegas?
What country doesn’t want a Las Vegas on their territory? A place where people from all around the world spend millions of Rands a month, a part of it being placed in the budget through taxes.
Even though land-based casinos face severe competition from their online counterparts, the industry is growing. The report by the Gambling Commission predicts stable growth at a rate faster than that of the economy as a whole.
What this means is more new casinos will appear, and more people will come to visit South Africa. While it may not be as great as Las Vegas or Monaco are, currently, there are few competitors in Africa. One of major South African cities may very well become a destination for gamblers all across the continent.
