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Goa to permit offshore casinos

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

After two long years, the hide and seek is over. The Goa government has declared that it will allow offshore casinos to be set up in the state, which will be among the first in the country.

Tourists journeying to Goa from Bombay over the sea will be able to visit one of the casinos. Frank Shipping, which runs a daily passenger service between Bombay and Goa will be permitted to run a casino on board the ship. Another casino will be run by a firm called The Renaissance. The company will anchor a vessel off the Goan coast exclusively for the casino.

However, the official notification only permits roulette, poker games, and slot machines.

It would appear that the purpose of the state Congress government in limiting the casino games is an attempt to counter the stiff opposition that is likely to surface to the setting up of the casinos.

Incidentally, the electronic slot machines, roulette, and poker games are not a novelty in Goa any more. Most five-star hotels have been allowing them since 1992, thanks to the amendment in the Goa Gambling Act. The Act, originally created to prohibit all kinds of gambling, has now been amended for the second time in four years to allow the offshore casinos.

Foreigners, however, seem little interested in games like roulette, poker, or the slot machines, calling them "kids' games." They are more popular among the local people, especially the upper-class youth, and even among some young politicians. One wonders whether same electronic games would attract foreigners on board floating vessels.

Earlier plans to allow casinos were shelved following stiff opposition from local political parties as well as environmental groups. Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane, who has been insisting on attracting the upper-class foreign tourists, dropped the idea. "If people think that casinos are detrimental to Goan society in the long-term, then we do not want to impose it for our short term gains," the Congress chief minister had then announced.

However, pressure from the five-star hotels' lobby appears to have compelled him to change his mind. Making a volte face on his "ideological" stance, he has permitted casinos while his much-touted tourism master plan to attract higher income tourists is still awaited.

The licence fee is only Rs 10,000, besides a deposit of Rs 1 million. But an amendment to the act plans to charge Rs 10 million annually as licence fees, while stipulating that the casino should be at least one kilometre away from the shore.