Investment & Holding

• 17

  1789 Capital

• RB

  RB Holding

• NA

  National Empowerment Fund

  Johannesburg, South Africa

  The National Empowerment Fund is a South African state-owned development finance agency established in 1998 under the National Empowerment Fund Act 105 of 1998. It operates under the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and is headquartered in Johannesburg. The NEF's core mandate is to promote broad-based black economic empowerment by providing debt and equity capital to black-owned businesses, and by enabling black investors to take stakes in established and state-owned assets. It is an institutional investor and funder rather than an operating company, with named funding programmes covering women-owned enterprises, rural and township businesses, and property projects. The NEF appears in iGaming-related coverage because South African lottery and gambling licensing processes require meaningful black empowerment ownership, placing state funds like the NEF in partnership or financing roles with licence applicants. A notable example in the research trail is court proceedings around the Sizekhaya lottery licence, where the NEF was a named participant rather than an operator. The organisation does not operate its own casino, betting brand, lottery terminal network, or online gaming product.

• GO

  Goldrush Holdings

  Goldrush Holdings is a South Africa-linked investment and holding company active in the lottery and regulated gambling sector. The company is best documented through its involvement in a contentious South African lottery licensing process, where an iGamingBusiness report described a court battle looming over the award of the licence. Its database classification as an investment and holding entity suggests that it may operate through subsidiaries rather than as a consumer-facing lottery brand, though no corporate registry extract or official profile was located to confirm the structure. The company’s most material documented asset appears to be its interest in the lottery licence at the centre of the dispute, which would place it within a highly regulated environment involving empowerment requirements, responsible-gambling obligations, revenue-sharing with the state, and oversight of both retail and online distribution. Because the licensing dispute remained unresolved in the reporting reviewed, the exact status of Goldrush Holdings as an applicant, successful bidder, or parent of an operating business could not be established with certainty. No founding date, headquarters, website, headcount, or executive appointments were confirmed from available sources, so these fields are left unverified rather than inferred from similarly named companies in other industries.

• 

  Waterhouse VC

  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

  Waterhouse VC is a Sydney-based venture capital firm focused exclusively on the global betting, gaming and iGaming technology sector. It was founded in 2017 by Tom Waterhouse, an Australian bookmaker from one of the country's most famous horse-racing families, after he sold his online bookmaking business to William Hill. The firm invests in early-stage and growth-stage companies across sports betting, online casino, affiliate marketing, data analytics and gambling technology. Although it is a small, specialist fund, it has become a widely recognised name in igaming trade media through its podcast, LinkedIn presence and regular commentary at industry events. Waterhouse VC has a global investment remit rather than a purely Australian focus, and it has built a portfolio of gaming-related investments across multiple jurisdictions. Its public profile gives it a broader footprint than many venture funds of a similar size, and Tom Waterhouse's own operating experience as a licensed bookmaker is a central part of the firm's value proposition. The firm is frequently cited by publications covering the gambling industry and is generally regarded as one of the most visible dedicated gaming VC vehicles in the market.

• 

  Wealthsimple

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  Wealthsimple is a Canadian fintech company specialising in online investing and personal finance, launched in 2014 by Michael Katchen in Toronto. What began as one of the country's first robo-advisors has grown into a full digital finance platform, offering managed investment portfolios, commission-free self-directed trading, crypto trading, high-interest Cash accounts, tax filing, and insurance. The company is backed by Power Corporation of Canada and after a 2021 fundraise was valued at roughly C$5 billion, one of the biggest valuations achieved by a Canadian fintech. It now reports more than three million users and oversees billions of dollars in client assets. In 2025 it attracted attention in the iGaming world by moving into prediction markets, a vertical closely tied to event-based trading and one that sits between gambling and retail investing. Headquartered in Toronto, Wealthsimple remains known for low-cost, mobile-first products and a clean user experience. Its prediction-market push is widely seen as a test of whether regulated investment firms can bring event contracts to the Canadian mass market.

• RE

  Reef Casino Trust

  Cairns, Queensland, Australia

  Reef Casino Trust (ASX: RCT) is an Australian listed managed investment scheme and real estate investment trust whose principal asset is the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns, Queensland. Established in the mid-1990s, with the casino opening in 1996, the Trust gives unitholders exposure to the income and value of one of Far North Queensland's largest gaming and entertainment venues. The Reef Hotel Casino occupies a CBD site on Wharf Street near Trinity Inlet and the Cairns Convention Centre, and includes a casino floor with electronic gaming machines, table games, poker and VIP services, plus restaurants, bars and function spaces. The Trust is structured around property ownership rather than conventional casino operations; its returns are tied to the venue's performance. Its ASX-quoted units have been a vehicle for consolidation in Australian gambling, with a takeover offer for the Trust having reached an unconditional stage. While it is commonly filed as a real estate investment trust, its fortunes are closely aligned with gaming revenue at the Reef Hotel Casino. The Trust's responsible entity handles governance, and unitholders receive financial reports and distribution information through the corporate website and ASX announcements.

• IR

  Iris Cairns Property

  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

  Iris Cairns Property Pty Ltd is an Australian special-purpose investment vehicle created by the Sydney property and hospitality group Iris Capital to acquire the ASX-listed Reef Casino Trust. The trust owns the Reef Hotel Casino on the Cairns waterfront in Far North Queensland. Iris Capital's takeover offer for the trust was declared unconditional in July 2019, allowing Iris Cairns Property to move the trust private and take control of the casino asset through the trust structure. As a holding entity rather than an operator, the company does not run gaming systems or consumer-facing gambling platforms; its gambling-sector classification comes from owning the vehicle that controls a licensed land-based casino. The Reef Hotel Casino continues to trade under its established brand, offering a gaming floor, hotel rooms, bars, restaurants and entertainment facilities. The acquisition added a long-term casino property to Iris Capital's wider portfolio of hotels, pubs, property development and hospitality assets. The company is ultimately controlled by the Arnaout family through Iris Capital, and it operates as a non-operating owner/holding vehicle in the gambling industry.

• RA

  RAK Hospitality Holding

  Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

  RAK Hospitality Holding LLC (RAKH) is the hospitality and tourism investment vehicle of the Government of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the UAE's northern emirates. Established in 2006 and wholly owned by the emirate's government, the company develops and holds hospitality assets while bringing in international operators to manage them. It is best known internationally as a co-developer, alongside Wynn Resorts and Marjan LLC, of Wynn Al Marjan Island, the UAE's first integrated casino resort, scheduled to open in September 2027. RAKH is not a casino operator or gaming supplier; it is an investment company participating in the project through equity ownership. The company's broader portfolio has historically included luxury hotels and resorts such as The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert, and Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Beach Resort. Former MGM Resorts chairman and CEO Jim Murren has served as chairman of RAK Hospitality Holding since 2021, giving the state-owned entity international gaming expertise as the UAE builds its regulated commercial gaming sector.

• 

  Macquarie

  50 Martin Place, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia

  Macquarie Group Limited is an Australian global financial services group and one of the country's largest investment banks. Started life in Sydney in 1969 as Hill Samuel Australia, it adopted the Macquarie name after receiving an Australian banking licence in 1985 and was later restructured into Macquarie Group, with Macquarie Bank as a wholly owned banking subsidiary. The firm combines investment banking, asset management, commodities trading, and Australian retail and business banking, and is particularly known for its large infrastructure investment portfolio. Macquarie employs roughly 20,000 people across more than 30 markets, with major hubs in Sydney, London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. In gambling and iGaming coverage, Macquarie appears as a financial-sector participant rather than an operator: its equity research analysts publish widely cited commentary on casino operators such as Wynn Resorts, and Macquarie Capital advises gaming and leisure companies on M&A and capital raising. The group is led by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shemara Wikramanayake, with Alex Harvey as Chief Financial Officer.

• RB

  RB Holding

• JE

  Jefferies Financial