Gold Circle has announced a record monthly turnover of R204-million to boost its annual turnover for the past racing season to a massive R1.823-billion. This represents an increase of R175 million (10.6%) over last year. The July turnover broke the magical R200-million monthly barrier for the first time and is well above the previous record set in July last year of R184-million.

These good results come hard on the heels of the recent announcement that its subsidiary company, Gold Circle KZN Slots (Pty) Ltd, has been awarded a route operators licence by the KwaZulu-Natal Gambling Board for 1 000 limited payout slot machines. These machines will be rolled out within a few months into totalisator outlets, pubs, clubs and restaurants throughout the province.

The company's financial standing has made a remarkable turnaround since it posted a loss of more than R20-million in 2002 and this year, in spite of increasing stakes by 13% a year over the past three years, it expects to post a profit of R8-million.

Gold Circle operates five racecourses in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape and controls four racehorse training centres in the two regions. Through its betting operation TabGold, the company has a vast network of outlets comprising 28 branches and 99 agencies in KwaZulu-Natal together with 33 branches and 24 agencies in the Western Cape .

The Chairman of Gold Circle, Mr Richard McElligott, said it was pleasing to see the company was finally beginning to reflect the results of strategies it had adopted over recent years to focus more on its commercial and other income generating activities.

" Gold Circle now has a sound platform on which to build for future growth," he said.