Ruben Gooranah knows at any given time how many people are at the slot machines at Times Square casino. He also tells you that the Sun Arena’s parking lot can empty within 20 minutes after a show attended by thousands.
He is the general manager at Times Square - who not only has a friendly smile, but who has his pulse on things and can even go into the nitty gritty of the intricate sound system used at the Sun Arena.
Gooranah was recently honoured for three and a half decades of loyal service to Sun International.
He started his career at Sun International in October 1988 as a Count Clerk at Venda Sun and is proof of what can be achieved with hard work, a positive mindset and fierce determination to succeed.
“Looking back on my career, it’s been one that’s been filled with many memorable moments, working with extraordinary people. I think of myself as a democratic leader, who creates the vision and motivates my team to achieve it.”
Gooranah said he has huge expectations for his team – performance excellence, being self-driven, and working together as a cohesive team towards a common purpose.
His career at Sun International has taken him from Thohoyandou (Limpopo) to Bisho (Eastern Cape), from the North West to the Free State, from Gauteng to the Western Cape and then back to Gauteng.
Though he started in the finance department, he moved to gaming, becoming a slots manager in 1995.
Working his way up in different slots operations around the country, he then became gaming manager at Morula Sun, and then slots manager at GrandWest. In 2005, he was promoted to general manager of Morula Sun.
In 2010, the decision was taken to upgrade Sun International’s gaming systems and Gooranah was then asked to head up the Enterprise Gaming System Project. He was appointed to the role of business manager for gaming at central office where, apart from implementing the group gaming system, he also assisted the group gaming director.
He held the position for three years and was then promoted to regional general manager of Casinos (SA) in 2013 and was responsible for Meropa, Carousel, Windmill, Naledi, Flamingo, Wild Coast, and the Royal Swazi business units.
After years of travelling between units, Gooranah decided it was time to settle in at one unit and took up his current role of general manager Times Square in 2020.
“When I retire one day, I’d like to be remembered as a fair leader who got things done and
left behind a highly effective team,” Gooranah said.
While he has his fingers on the pulse of one of the biggest entertainment complexes in the country, Gooranah is also one of the nicest people who is down to earth.
Pretoria News