Sol Kerzner
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Solomon (Sol) Kerzner (born 23 August 1935) is a South African hotel and gambling magnate.
Kerzner was born in Troyeville, Johannesburg, the youngest of four children to Jewish Russian immigrants. His family started a hotel chain; after Kerzner graduated as a Chartered Accountant, he took over the running of the group and went on to create the most successful hotel group in South Africa, Sun International. He is now Chairman of the Board of Kerzner International based on Paradise Island, Bahamas.
As a result of the success of the Sun City resort, he got involved in international hotel and gambling resorts; most notable is his role as the innovative developer behind the well-known Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.
His latest major development was suggested to be a proposed giant casino on the site of the Millennium Dome in London, alongside American businessman, Philip Anschutz. However, when the decision to grant a Super Casino licence was granted by the UK Government, the licence went to a proposal in Manchester instead, a proposal that Kerzner is reported to be involved in.
Another new project is a new Atlantis on the Palm in Dubai. Sol Kerzner's luxury management company, One&Only Resorts, also manages seven five-star luxury resorts in The Bahamas, Mexico, Mauritius, Dubai and the Maldives.
He also developed and managed the Mohegan Sun casino located in Uncasville, Connecticut through a joint venture with the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut called Trading Cove Associates. TCA relinquished its management of the resort in 2002 but Kerzner through his company will still receive a 5% dividend on the gross revenue generated by Mohegan Sun until 2014.
During his role as a gambling resort developer, Sol Kerzner has been investigated for corruption a number of times, none of which have resulted in a conviction.
During 1985, Kerzner's Sun City, South Africa resort was the topic of anti-Apartheid rock album titled Sun City by a group of rock musicians calling themselves Artists United Against Apartheid.
Sol's heir, Howard (Butch) Kerzner died on 11 October 2006 when the helicopter he was travelling in crashed near Sosua, in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic.
Kerzner has been married four times and is currently married to Heather Kerzner née Murphy. During a lengthy period in the 1990s, he dated the model Christina Estrada but suddenly married her best friend, Heather Murphy, in 2000.[1] He was also married to the 1974 winner of the Miss World title Anneline Kriel, also of South Africa.
