Man who made his fortune selling sex and gambling

A brash South African who made his fortune selling sex and gambling to whites under apartheid, Sol Kerzner is an improbable saviour for New Labour's cherished Millennium Dome.

The youngest son of poor Russian Jewish immigrants in Johannesburg, he took boxing lessons as a child and has been fighting his way to the top ever since.

He grew up in poverty in the rough district of Doornfontein where, as one of only two Jewish boys in his class, his fighting skills were a necessity. Mr Kerzner became an accountant, but at 29 had raised the money to build South Africa's first five-star hotel, the Beverly Hills.

Within five years Mr Kerzner, now 69, had started the Southern Sun Hotel franchise, the South African chain which transformed the leisure sector in the country. In 1979, he built the infamous Sun City after striking a deal for exclusive gambling rights which would later be attacked as highly suspicious.

It became the favourite haunt of wealthy white South Africans and was the scene of regular extravaganzas - including numerous world heavyweight title fights and Miss World contests - while playing host to celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli.

Mr Kerzner was then reputed to be worth around £600 million. His private life was just as colourful.

With five children from his first two marriages, two were left motherless when Shirley, his second wife, committed suicide in 1978. By the mid-Eighties, his third marriage, to South Africa's first Miss World Anneline Kriel, ended amid rumours of stormy rows. Mr Kerzner celebrated his 50th birthday by flying 150 friends to Mauritius on a private jumbo jet, replacing the air stewardesses with dancers who performed an in-flight striptease.

His high living took its toll. In 1989, Mr Kerzner had a heart attack, and his doctor told him not to bother to come back until he had given up his 60 cigarettes a day, cut the alcohol and reduced his daily intake of 20 cups of coffee and a dozen cups of tea.

Mr Kerzner later got together with model Christina Estrada and they became engaged on Valentine's Day 1994. She waited seven years in vain for him to marry her. She was dumped for her best friend, New Yorker Heather Murphy who became his fourth wife.

It is 15 years since Mr Kerzner left South Africa under a cloud of alleged bribery. He moved to the Bahamas, where his £1.4 billion Atlantis casino and hotel is one of the most successful in the world. His empire now includes casinos in Connecticut and Atlantic City and eight beach resorts in Mauritius, Dubai and the Maldives.

Two years ago he turned his attention to Britain with a £9.6m move for London Clubs International and ambitious plans for three casinos in Greenwich, Glasgow and at Manchester City's new stadium.