Krugersdorp – For some people, the West Rand is somewhere you drive through on the way to the Magaliesberg and Maropeng’s Cradle of Humankind. But there’s a new attraction: Tsogo Sun’s Silverstar casino.
I’m not a fan of casinos or gambling, except where the owners develop great entertainment or accommodation options because they’re underwritten by the people feeding the one-armed bandits on the casino floor.
This is precisely what has happened at Silverstar, opened in November after an 18-month revamp that cost R560 million.
I don’t know what the good burghers of Krugersdorp were used to before, but now they have six new indoor restaurants to look forward to, a Parker’s Comedy and Jive club, a 12-lane, 10-pin bowling alley, a 450m² hi-tech laser games area, a brand-new cinema complex and The Globe, a 2 200-seat venue inaugurated at the opening function.
More to the point, it is playing host to the Tutankhamen exhibition, as well as providing a West Rand venue for the ever-popular Bok Town, pioneered at Tsogo Sun’s Montecasino in Fourways.
And it is in homage to Montecasino that Silverstar has been redesigned, with a huge outdoor entertainment area that on opening night featured the ever-popular Parlotones, as well as a range of restaurants and fast-food outlets that cater for every imaginable taste, from Indian to Chinese and the quintessentially South African vleis, rys en aartappels.
For those wanting to stay over, there is a refurbished and upmarket 34-roomed luxury hotel, complete with its own restaurant, spa and pool.