Casino Licence Goa
Casinos in the Indian states of Goa and Sikkim are set to reopen this weekend, more than seven months after they were shut due to COVID-19.
On Wednesday, Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced that the state’s casinos – both land-based and shipboard – had been given permission to reopen their doors on November 1. Like most of the world’s casinos, Goa’s gambling venues were ordered closed in mid-March to minimize further pandemic infection.
Sawant said the casinos would have to follow standard operating procedures issued by the Home Department, including a 50% limit of their normal guest capacity for an undetermined period.
Despite their operations having been shut for the past seven months, Sawant said the casinos were still collectively on the hook for over Rs2b (US$27.5m) in license fees for the period in question. These fees must be paid before the casinos can resume operations.
The Home Department reportedly sought to reduce these fees to avoid overburdening operators – who have fixed costs that the shutdown didn’t alleviate them from paying – but some of the cabinet’s more anti-gambling members objected. To counter this setback, Sawant said operators would be allowed to pay their license fees in monthly instalments rather than a lump sum covering the whole year.
The Goa government has increased the license fee for new land-based casinos by up to 2 crore rupees (8,862) based on the size of the casino, local media reports. The under-secretary of the home department, Neetal Amonkar in a notification issued recently said a land-based casino with an area up to 100 square meters will have to pay 3.5 crore rupees as a casino licence fees. The floating casinos in the Indian state of Goa received clearance to restart operations since pandemic lockdown. The CCP or Corporation of the City of Panaji had already provided in-principal approval for the renewal of the trade licenses of the offshore casinos. The floating boats are currently docked at the Mandovi River. Most online gambling businesses and online casinos have some form of online gambling license. All legal online gambling business must be registered and be in compliance in at least one jurisdiction. We understand that selecting a jurisdiction to base your online betting, bingo, casino, poker or sports betting business is a challenging task. Panaji, May 10 (IANS) Awarding a casino licence in any state other than Goa, could lead to the toppling of its government, according to Narinder Punj, a top official of one of Goa's largest.
The casino restart is part of an effort by the state to kickstart its tourism industry, which has taken a major hit following the pandemic lockdown. Goa currently has just over 2,400 active COVID-19 cases, down from 3,100 a week ago.
Goa’s announcement came one day after India’s largest casino operator Delta Corp – which operates three floating and one land-based casino in Goa – received clearance to reopen its Casino Delta Denzong in the state of Sikkim on November 1. Like Goa, Sikkim ordered its gambling venues to close in mid-March. Delta said its Sikkim casino would operate “in accordance with applicable safety norms,” but didn’t specify whether Sikkim’s limits were the same as Goa’s.
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With its land-based venues shuttered, Delta has been leaning on its online gambling operations to keep afloat, although online revenues are a fraction of those produced by its land-based business. Small wonder than that investors cheered the company’s imminent return to land-based action, pushing Delta’s shares up more than 6% by the close of Wednesday’s trading.
Delta’s experience in Goa’s floating casino sector undoubtedly played a role in its decision last week to pay Rs155m (US$2.1m) for a 45% stake in Waterways Shipyard Pvt Ltd (WSPL). The ship-building business in Karnataka on India’s west coast has constructed over 60 vessels, including Delta’s own Casino Royale. The deal is expected to close by the end of December.
The floating casinos in the Indian state of Goa received clearance to restart operations since pandemic lockdown. The CCP or Corporation of the City of Panaji had already provided in-principal approval for the renewal of the trade licenses of the offshore casinos.
The floating boats are currently docked at the Mandovi River. The final approval could come on November 11 at the next council meeting.
Uday Madkaikar, Panjim mayor, said casino operators need to reapply for their licenses. This approval would be good enough for the current financial year and the period ends on March 31, 2021. The fees would contribute to the city’s operating budget.
This is a quite different view from CCP than a year before.
Last year, CCP unanimously voted against the renewal of the trade licenses. The decisions came after locals complained about the disruption caused by the casinos.
However, Madkaikar, said that now there is no nightlife in the city. He said people from restaurants, hotels, and taxi operators almost pleaded with him to open the casinos. Well, the legal experts have another view. They say that no renewal would have dragged the city to the court and that could have been lost huge loss for the city.
However, there are a few changes that the casinos need to do. The roads leading up to the floating casinos need to be rezoned. There has to be ‘no parking zone’, ‘no stopping zone’ etc. In fact, a private towing firm needs to be appointed to implement the orders as well.
The licenses of the casinos ended on Mach 31st and it coincided with the shutdown orders due to the pandemic. Last week, the casinos were told that they would be able to resume operations from November 1.
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However, the state government has not really authorized any casino actually operating so far.
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Source:https://calvinayre.com/2020/11/05/casino/goa-floating-casinos-catch-break-license-renewals/