Lara Portelli, Events and Entertainment Manager, SunBet Arena, Time Square

The thrill of a crowd and the experience of state-of-the art audio visual equipment, combined with an international artist – a recipe that has had Lara Portelli, Events and Entertainment Manager of the SunBet Arena at Time Square, hooked since joining Sun International in the 1990s.

From gala dinners for 1 400 people, to music shows for 10 200, Portelli, who grew up in Gqeberha, has seen it all. During the course of her 27-year career, she has rubbed shoulders with Tina Turner, Quincy Jones, Meat Loaf, Jackie Chan, Westlife, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sarah Brightman, among other international superstars and celebrities who have visited Sun International properties in South Africa.

“My first role with the company was as guest relations officer at The Lost City, where I was involved in major events such as the Miss World pageant, and co-ordinating film shoots,…

Movie Room, channel 113, DStv channel 113, schedule line up for May 2023

Catch an exciting movie line-up this May with Movie Room, DStv channel 113, and enjoy some exhilarating weekly blockbusters with memorable cinema classics suitable for the entire family.

This movie line-up showcases the finest movies for the perfect date night, family time or some ‘me time’, whether you are in the mood for romance, action or comedy.

Movie Room has got you covered for some couch time with 24-hour entertainment which includes Adventure Thursdays with exciting movies like First Knight and A Knight’s Tale; Kevin Hart Saturdays with hilarious favourites such as Ride Along, Ride Along 2, Night School and Central Intelligence; Sundays Classics such as Sleight, The Interview, Hudson Hawk and Striking Distance; Action Sport with Redbelt and Gladiator; Blockbuster Oldies such as The Replacement Killers and American Outlaws.

Adventure Thursdays

First Knight

CAPTION (above and below): Artist impression of the Carnival City Lifestyle Estate’s apartments

Carnival City Casino, owned by Sun International, is partnering with LivRES to develop a dynamic, mixed-use lifestyle estate on vacant land at Carnival City in Ekurhuleni.

Carnival City is a minority shareholder in this development that will offer safe, affordable and healthy living.

When complete, the 50ha R2.5-billion Lifestyle Estate will comprise of secure residential districts connected by commercial and lifestyle components. The current casino and hotel complex is situated on a 30ha portion of land directly adjoining the new development.

Keeping the lights on at Boardwalk, one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s premier attractions, during times of heavy loadshedding can be a stressful job, even for the most experienced of maintenance teams.

Ettienne Bester, Acting Maintenance Operations Manager at Boardwalk, and his team of 12 in the maintenance department, was searching for alternate ways of consuming electricity. “We are trying to minimise consumption of the complex’s electricity to lighten the load on our three generators which power the hotel and casino during loadshedding,” he said.

“When loadshedding starts, the power dips temporarily and everyone gets a fright. But within seconds, our lights are back on as our UPS runs until the generators automatically kick in.

The casino has a 1750 kilowatt generator which can power the entire venue, but there is also a 500kw generator. “We split the load between the smoking casino, while the bigger one runs the non-smoking floor…