India: Goa greenlights casinos to reopen Nov. 1 at 50% capacity

The government of Goa, India, has greenlighted casinos in the state to restart operations as of next month, after being shut since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant told a post-cabinet press conference Wednesday that the decision was taken with a view to “promote tourism activity in the state.” “From November 1, we have given the casinos permissions to start. They will have to follow all the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) as will be issued to them by the Home Department and with 50% capacity they can start. We need to promote tourism activity,” he said, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The casinos have been urging the government to allow the restart of operations, which they said would help boost the tourist arrivals in the state and provide an added attraction to tourists visiting the state. Sawant also said that the casino operators who would earlier pay their annual fees at a single time can now do so on a monthly basis.

Since the industry has been closed since March, many of the staff have gone back home. Operators believe that they will not be able to restart with only a few days’ notice and will take some weeks to be up and running.

There are six offshore casinos in Goa, boats anchored in the Mandovi river that flows by the capital city. Other casinos are located inside five-star hotels. The 19-year-old industry contributes around ₹300 crore to the state coffers in licence fees and around ₹90 crore per year as State GST. Industry insiders reveal that each venue used to make a turnover of around Rs 120-crore per year and drew 600-800 people per vessel, especially on weekends, before the lockdown threw a spanner in the works.