Montecasino

Montecasino is one of South Africa's most extraordinary entertainment complexes — a meticulously recreated Tuscan village complete with cobbled streets, church facade, aged plaster walls, piazzas, and even a painted sky that cycles from day to night, all enclosed within a climate-controlled building in the Johannesburg northern suburbs. The concept, executed by Tsogo Sun, has made it the most visited entertainment destination in South Africa with over 18 million visitors per year.

The casino floor is the largest in South Africa, featuring over 1,800 slot machines and 60 table games. The complex extends well beyond gaming to include the Teatro show venue (one of Johannesburg's premier live-entertainment stages), the Pivot Hotel and Palazzo Hotel, a 14-screen cinema, an art gallery, over 150 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants and bars. The synthetic Tuscan streetscape — convincing in the way only a construction designed to evoke romanticism can be — has become a destination in its own right for families and tourists who never set foot in the casino.