Latest news with #Heffer
The Citizen
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
It's official: Hollywood rescues KZN racing
Bookmaking giant gets go-ahead on eve of winter season. When Owen Heffer was selling rough-printed tipping sheets outside Greyville racecourse in 1984 – for a few rand to keep his young family alive – he didn't dream he'd one day own the place. Yet this week, just over 40 years later, that improbable scenario came to pass. On 1 May, the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Regulatory Authority approved the acquisition of the province's horse racing operator Gold Circle by Hollywood Sportsbook Holdings. The latter, of course, is the holding company of the gambling giant that grew from the tiny seed of those humble lists of tips, through the Winning Form guide and a tiny bookmaking business. In 2023, with Gold Circle in severe financial trouble, Heffer's Hollywoodbets proposed bailing out the company with an initial R500-million rescue injection. Gold Circle's shareholders jumped at the offer. Hollywoodbets had by then become the fairy godmother of many sporting and non-sporting endeavours, ploughing millions back into its heartland community in KZN – and then further afield. Famous buyouts and sponsorships included the takeover and very successful revitalisation of Cape Town horse racing; race sponsorship of South Africa's premier race, the Durban July, and branding of Brentford football club in London. Other tie-ups included sponsorship of the Dolphins provincial cricket side – and their stadium; sponsorship of the Sharks rugby team – and their stadium, sponsorship of South Africa's women's cricketers, and a multitude of helping hands lower down the rungs of sport and charity. Rescue job Owen Haffer's rags-to-riches story is for another day. In the meantime, racing fans are celebrating the rescue job he and his team have pulled off in the place where his initial small punt delivered a sensational return. A Hollywood press release on Thursday declared 'a seriously ambitious and committed plan to resurrect the failing industry in the richly culturally diverse province that has enjoyed a passionate following of the sport for well over a century'. It continued: 'It is a reality that, given the combination of the prevailing economic climate and dramatic changes in the betting landscape, horseracing countrywide has languished in the doldrums for a large part of the 21st century.' The company promised 'a focus on the best utilisation of resources, while embracing a wider universal appeal that will keep pace with ever evolving modern entertainment trends, directed at a wider customer market'. Upgrades and improvements The investment will preserve about 6,000 jobs in KZN. Facilities at venues and training centres will be modernised, prize money will be boosted, the racing programme will be revamped, and incentives to promote racehorse ownership and boost field sizes will be introduced. Already buildings and equipment are being renovated and upgraded – including a revamp of the Hollywoodbets Greyville Polytrack and the course's floodlighting. At Summerveld Training Centre in Hillcrest, money will go into upgrading stabling, accommodation and roads. It will all cost a tad more than the initial R500-million mentioned. The government green light for the buyout comes as the KZN Champions' Season – the unofficial 'national championships' of racing – gets underway at Greyville on Saturday. The famous old Drill Hall Stakes tops the card, alongside the WSB Guineas and WSB Fillies Guineas, with all three races being important pointers to the Hollywoodbets Durban July in two months' time. The cherry on the top is an expected R3-million Pick 6 carryover pool on the day.
News.com.au
23-04-2025
- News.com.au
Court shown moment Yusuf Nazlioglu stole luxury car before his murder
A jury has been shown the moment a man brazenly stole a luxury Mercedes from Sydney's CBD about a month before he was shot dead in an underground carpark. Yusuf Nazlioglu was gunned down in front of his wife after parking beneath his Rhodes apartment on June 27, 2022. Three men – Abdulrahman Atteya, Mohammed Hosni Khaled and Mohammed Baltagi – are on trial before the NSW Supreme Court, accused of roles in the 40-year-old's death. All three have pleaded not guilty and deny any part in the shooting. The jury has been told Mr Nazlioglu, who was formerly acquitted of murdering Comanchero boss Mick Hawi, hired two Mercedes vehicles from a western Sydney company in May 2022. 'Mr Nazlioglu did not return these vehicles,' Crown prosecutor Eric Balodis said during the trial's opening last week. The Crown alleges this provided 'some explanation and motive' for his murder. A message was passed on to Mr Nazlioglu's wife, then known as Jade Heffer, that a black E-class needed to be returned before the car was 'reported stolen or worse'. The business had Ms Heffer's driver's license on file, and men arrived at the couple's apartment on Walker St, Rhodes, on May 23. Footage played to the court showed a number of men wearing masks or hooded jumpers in the carpark before finding the car and driving it away. The court has heard that on May 26, the car's owner recorded a livestream on TikTok while on Castlereagh St in Sydney CBD. Ms Heffer saw the stream and spotted the car in the video. Mr Balodis said the owner, who is not accused of wrongdoing, was 'quite dedicated to TikTok' at the time and Ms Heffer recognised the area he was in due to its proximity to high-end jewellery stores. Mr Nazlioglu and his wife still had a key to the vehicle, the court heard, and about 40 minutes later they arrived on the scene in a white Mercedes. CCTV captured Mr Nazlioglu jump out of the white car and run over to the E-class before unlocking it, getting into the driver's seat and speeding off. The jury has also watched footage of the moment Mr Nazlioglu was shot eight times, and Ms Heffer – now known as Jade Jeske – gave evidence of what she heard and saw. She recounted seeing a man running toward her then-husband armed with a firearm before hearing 'about eight' shots. 'I knew that he was going to be dead,' she told the court. 'I didn't go and touch him or go over to him. I looked at him.' Mr Nazlioglu died the following day in hospital, the court was told. Mr Balodis said in his opening remarks that prosecutors do not allege the men on trial had personal 'animosity' toward Mr Nazlioglu, and that his murder was organised by unknown persons. Prosecutors allege Mr Atteya was either the shooter or the driver of a Volkswagen Golf used by the assassins on June 27, 2022. The other man believed to be in the car has left Australia, the court has heard. Mr Atteya's barrister, David Dalton SC, told the jury his client was not involved at any stage of the murder plot and that Mr Nazlioglu had several enemies. 'Mr Nazlioglu had only been released (from prison) for some couple of months before he was in fact killed himself and there will be evidence, that as far as he was concerned, a number of people wanted to kill him.' Mr Khaled and Mr Baltagi were not at the scene, the court was told, but are accused of preparing getaway vehicles including e-scooters to help the assailants flee. The trial before Justice Deborah Sweeney continues.
