Thaindian News

Panaji, July 21 (IANS) Once known as a hot-spot for hippies, Goa’s new found reputation as a gambling destination appears to be catching on fast. In financial year 2008-09, nearly 121,000 gamblers visited the state’s five offshore casinos.
Figures released by Commissioner of Commercial Taxes V.K. Kamat Monday indicate that among the casinos in the Mandovi river, off Panaji, the most popular turned out to be the oldest one - M.V. Caravela owned by Advani pleasure cruises.

Caravela was frequented by nearly 36,000 gamblers. The casino, which has been in operation since 1999, put nearly Rs.1.39 crore into the government coffers by way of entertainment tax.

Casino Rio owned by the Leela beach resort follows close second with 35,000 patrons, while contributing Rs.56 lakh to the state government as entertainment tax.

In all, two million tourists visit Goa each year, out of which 350,000 are foreigners. And its seems a large number of them are attracted by the casinos.

However, according to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), these figures do not signal a positive change.

“In the long run, this is not going to bode well. After a point of time, once the number of tourists visiting these casinos increases further, the Goan economy will come to depend on revenues generated from offshore casino gambling,” opposition leader Manohar Parrikar said, adding that the state’s tourism industry would come to rely completely on the “gambling tourist”.

“The casino industry also brings along with it several other evils. Goa needs to do away with casinos as soon as possible,” Parrikar said.

The BJP has been consistently campaigning against the six offshore casinos parked in the Mandovi river, five of which are functioning.

Parrikar said that his party would raise the issue in the monsoon session of the assembly, which kicked off Monday.

“We will continue to raise this issue in the assembly. We are categorically against the offshore casino industry. We want to ban Goans from entering the casinos for now. We are also pushing for formulation of rules and regulations, which would allow entry only for those who have filed income tax returns,” Parrikar said, adding that casinos had led to the ruin of several businessmen from the state.