{"id":25753,"date":"2026-05-28T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=25753"},"modified":"2026-05-29T04:54:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:54:51","slug":"mauritius-officially-relaunches-state-casino-privatisation-in-investment-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/mauritius-officially-relaunches-state-casino-privatisation-in-investment-push","title":{"rendered":"Mauritius officially relaunches state casino privatisation in investment push"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PwC has been appointed to oversee the privatisation of Casinos de Maurice as Mauritius seeks fresh investment for its gaming sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mauritius.- Mauritius has officially relaunched the privatisation of its state-owned casino sector<\/strong> as the government seeks fresh private investment for the island\u2019s gaming and hospitality industry. Auditing and advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers<\/strong> (PwC) has been appointed to oversee a multi-stage sale process for Casinos de Maurice<\/strong>, the state-backed operator behind several strategic gaming venues across the island, including the Grand Casino du Domaine at Les Pailles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The privatisation drive forms part of a broader government strategy<\/strong> to rationalise public holdings, ease pressure on public finances and restructure Mauritius\u2019 land-based casino market through fresh capital investment and operational reform. Expressions of interest are due by August 15 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told the National Assembly on May 5 that Casinos de Maurice had accumulated almost Rs2bn (US$42m) in losses<\/strong> between 2015 and 2025 and described the company\u2019s current operating model as \u201cobsolete\u201d, according to L\u2019Express Mauritius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cabinet has validated PwC\u2019s appointment to oversee what local media described as a phased divestment<\/strong> strategy aimed at introducing private capital, expertise and \u201cagile management\u201d into the business while attempting to preserve local employment and continued casino operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the financial losses, reports indicate the government is pursuing a growth and investment strategy rather than a closure of casino operations. A PwC investment document cited by NewsMoris stated: \u201cThis business opportunity <\/strong>offers an interested party the possibility to expand and diversify its activities, while taking advantage of a growing entertainment and hospitality sector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sector reform and investment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Casinos de Maurice, majority-owned by the State Investment Corporation<\/strong>, has operated casino venues in Mauritius since 1984. While the operator was profitable in earlier decades, local reports said it has suffered recurrent losses over the last 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current administration reportedly attributes the decline to several structural factors, including an operational model poorly adapted to changing market trends, increasing competition<\/strong> from online gaming and gaming houses, high structural costs and persistent governance concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Ramgoolam also criticised the previous administration\u2019s handling of the company, specifically referencing staff bonus payments, including a 14th-month salary distributed ahead of the last elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest privatisation push follows multiple unsuccessful attempts<\/strong> by successive governments to offload or restructure the casino business. A privatisation exercise launched in 2019 collapsed, while additional restructuring initiatives involving consultancy firms including KPMG between 2021 and 2022 also failed to result in completed transactions. A further process announced in 2023 similarly did not reach completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process could draw interest from regional and international gaming investors<\/strong> as Mauritius seeks to reposition its land-based casino sector through private investment and operational restructuring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Brightstar expands Mauritius lottery tech agreement with Lottotech<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PwC has been appointed to oversee the privatisation of Casinos de Maurice as Mauritius seeks fresh investment for its gaming sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2809,"featured_media":25759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Mauritius has relaunched the privatization of its state-owned operator, Casinos de Maurice, appointing PwC to oversee the multi-stage sale process. This initiative aims to attract private capital, address significant accumulated losses, and modernize the land-based casino sector, which has been deemed obsolete and challenged by online gaming competition.","focusai_entities":"PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Casinos de Maurice, State Investment Corporation, Navin Ramgoolam, KPMG","focusai_location":"Mauritius, Les Pailles","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.8), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Valuation & Bid Process","query":"What specific valuation methodologies will PwC employ to determine the enterprise value of Casinos de Maurice, considering its historical losses and the government's growth mandate, and what are the key milestones in the multi-stage sale process?"},{"label":"Regulatory & Market Impact","query":"How will the Mauritian government's regulatory framework evolve post-privatization to support private investment, address competition from online gaming, and ensure robust governance for the restructured land-based casino sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60016,60013],"tags":[67,60037,60033],"class_list":["post-25753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-africa","tag-casinos","tag-finance","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25753"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25767,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25753\/revisions\/25767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}