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 The largest casino and hotel group in South Africa, Sun International Ltd. (SUIJ.J), released a statement on Monday telling reporters that they would be closing their Santiago-based casino, Monticello after recent developments resulted in substantial damages to the property.
The casino along with a lot of other buildings in the area, were totaled by the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile early on Saturday. So far the death toll has reached 723 people but that number is expected to rise.
Despite the world changing effect it has had on the planet (NASA believes that it should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds) most believe that it could have been far worse. The quake which was 500X the strength of the one that recently struck Haiti was first of all centered deep offshore which helped to dull it's effect and perhaps far more importantly Chile build their infrastructure with earthquakes in mind. This isn't the first major quake the country has experienced and there is a very good chance that it won't be the last.
Surprisingly not all of the casino's damages came from the quake itself. "There has been significant damage to the casino and retail complex including the convention centre and administration areas, some of it due to the quake and aftershocks and some due to the sprinkler system," Sun International's Chief Executive David Coutts-Trotter said.
No word yet on if and when the casino will be back up and running. The site was insured for both the damages to the property and the cost of the business interruption resulting from it. In terms of the policy the big named group will still be responsible for $8 million in damages but all and all that should be relatively cheap compared to what it could have cost them without such a policy.
We'll let you know when more details become available.
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