BY MICHAEL EBOH

Federal Palace Hotels and Casino (FPH), a subsidiary of Tourist Company of Nigeria (TCN) Plc has rewarded patrons with prizes worth over N17 million in the grand draw of its Portal of Fortune Promo.

At the draw which took place in Lagos, Mr. Farid Hassan, a Lebanese businessman carted away the grand prize of a car — Porsche Cayenne S Triptronic, worth about N15.4 million ($100,000) while Mr. S. Chakra and Y.C. Kao won cash prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.

Seven other patrons won other prizes ranging from membership of the pool, membership points among others.

Speaking at the draw, Mr. Mark Courtney, Financial Manager, Federal Palace Hotels and Casino, noted that the promotion is designed to show appreciation to it customers for their patronage over the years and as a means to encourage them to increase their patronage.

He said, “The promo is a “way of rewarding patrons for their playing in our casino. Each patron is given equal opportunity, depending on the way they played.”

He further explained that the just concluded promotion was the biggest so far since the inception of the promo series in 2009, going by the value of the grand prize.

Federal Palace Hotel & Casino is operated under the management of Sun International Limited, the pioneer of smart card gaming in South Africa.

The casino offers an array of Tables games and Slots, with 195 slot machines. Its slots include traditional Reel Slots, Touch Bet Roulette and the latest multi-line Video Slots and Video Poker. The casino value chips which are used for play on the tables can be purchased from the Cash Desk and at all tables.

The casino also offers membership of the Sun International Most Valued Guest [MVG] programme to customers.

These MVGs can load money onto their MVG Smart Card at the cash desk, and subsequently use the card to buy chips at the game tables or play at the Slot machines.

The ‘Portal of Fortune’ promo ran from January 1 to April 30, 2011; and was restricted to persons over the age of 18. Participants earned tickets by playing their favorite games at the casino; these tickets qualified them for the weekly draws that were held  every Wednesday and Saturday throughout the duration of the promo.