Eclipse of the Sol King ; Butch Kerzner Was the Gilded Heir Apparent to the Kerzner Empire and the Force Behind Its Unpopular Bid to Turn the Dome Into a Supercasino. But This Month He Died in a Helicopter Accident, Leaving His Father's Business in Turmoil. So Will the Devastated Sol Kerzner Finally Throw in His Hand?

Summary

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Butch Kerzner used to go jogging in the Bahamas with his friend Robert Carron, chief operating officer of the Tribune Media Group. Carron remembers once, when they were struggling to finish a mile, Kerzner, the chief executive of one of the world's largest casino empires, decided they needed to train for a marathon. A while later, they were running together in Singita resort in South Africa. Carron was worried because the park was full of lions. 'Butch said, "It's not dangerous unless you fall behind."' Butch Kerzner, 42 when he died in a helicopter crash in the Dominican Republic two weeks ago, was one of life's golden boys. Funny, handsome, driven but twinkly- eyed, he was the popular head of Kerzner International, founded by his much-married father Solomon (Sol) Kerzner, the casino impresario who makes up in chutzpah and wives for what he lacks in height.

And just as the wings of a butterfly fluttering in China can cause an earthquake halfway across the globe, according to chaos theory, so this helicopter crash in the Caribbean has repercussions in the unglamorous, windswept wharves of Greenwich. Kerzner International, along with the American tycoon Philip Anschutz (once described by Forbes magazine as 'America's greediest executive') is the preferred bidder for the new supercasino licence at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, with its promise of million-pound- jackpot one-armed bandits to lure in the punters.

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Eclipse of the Sol King ; Butch Kerzner Was the Gilded Heir Apparent to the Kerzner Empire and the Force Behind Its Unpopular Bid to Turn the Dome Into a Supercasino. But This Month He Died in a Helicopter Accident, Leaving His Father's Business in Turmoil. So Will the Devastated Sol Kerzner Finally Throw in His Hand?

Sol Kerzner has had his eye on the prize for some time.

Back in 2002, when the government was first toying with the idea of changing our gambling laws, he told reporters: 'I am interested and serious about trying to enter the UK gaming market.' He duly set up in Knightsbridge, hired political lobbyists Citigate Public Affairs, and started buying into various established teams: insiders say that a supercasino, which costs at least Pounds 200 million to build, is beyond the budget of most British casino companies.

In 2003, the Kerzners reportedly paid Pounds 1.25 million for a licence to open a casino in Northampton. Kerzner also put Pounds 10 million into London Clubs International, the then aili...

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