Following Monday’s news that the Goa Ports Minister had informed the State Assembly that five of the six offshore casinos would no longer be allowed to operate on expired No Objection Certificates (NOC) – the sixth casino vessel, MV Arabian Sea King, has an NOC that expires in October – comes a bid by the Casino Association to reduce new entry fees. The government in Goa is battling corruption allegations of taking bribes to enable the offshore casino vessels to continue to operate amidst increasing opposition from local residents, environmentalists and some politicians.

In its latest mini-budget the government proposed to increase casino entry fee from Rs200 to Rs2000. The Association of Offshore Casinos, as representative of four of the six casino operators, has now sent a memorandum to both the Chief Minister and the leader of the Opposition requesting that the fee increase be reduced to Rs500 (just over US$10). The Association previously has said that a casino control board should be set up to oversee casino regulations and that the age limit for entry should be raised from 18 to 21.

The government also proposes to increase the one-time processing fee for an offshore casino liquor licence and to introduce a sliding scale fee for the annual retail sale of liquor licence, the cost depending on vessel capacity. The duty on liquor is likely to go up as well. During the last financial year the offshore casino vessels attracted nearly 121,000 gamblers and the Caravela, which was the first to operate in Goa and remains the most popular, had 36,000 visitors. (E-07.30.09)

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