By Marcellus D’Souza

Apr 27: The Goa Cabinet today approved “extension for payment of annual recurring fee for Casinos”.

Earlier the Casino’s used to pay one time at start of financial year but now will be allowed to pay monthly but with 10 % extra.

Goa’s casino industry has had a topsy-turvy time throughout 2020. The state government recently allowed casinos to reopen after the lifting of Covid restrictions in the stste and casinos remaining closed for over seven months.

The state government of Goa has, over the years, consistently hiked the casino license fees. In March 2018, the fees were hiked 4.5 times from the previous year’s fees. Notably, this year the licensee fee has remained the same.

Bearing the current financial situation in mind, Goa’s Home Department has issued a notification allowing the casinos to pay annual recurring fees for the financial year 2020-2021 on a monthly pro-rata basis.

The state government also specified that the annual fee schedule payment for the lockdown period between April 2020 to October 2020 would be notified by an order in the official gazette.

“The annual recurring fees for the financial year 2020-2021 shall be calculated on a monthly pro-rata basis and the payment thereof in respect of the month of November, 2020 up to March, 2021 shall be made on or before the 5th day of such respective month. The schedule of payment of the unpaid annual recurring fees in respect of the month of April, 2020 up to October 2020 shall be as specified by the government by an order published in the Official Gazette,” the notification states.
Besides the rental of the trade links, the state government has also kept the annual recurring fees unchanged.

The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has given in-principle approval to renew the trade licenses of the six offshore casinos docked on River Mandovi. The final approval remains pending until the next Council meeting.

The trade license issue has been ongoing for a while now. In August 2019, the CCP had declared that it would not be renewing the trade licenses of offshore casinos from 2020 onwards.

In July last year, after three offshore casinos had approached the CCP, asking for the renewal of their trade licenses, the CCP said that “their applications have been kept on hold and that a decision to renew their licenses would be taken later”.

The CCP’s decision to change its stance may have a lot to do with the state’s present economic crisis. Goa is heavily dependent on tourism, which has been severely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdown. Now that states are steadily opening up their economies, Goa has to revive its tourism sector. Casinos have always played a vital role in this sector – not just in attracting tourists but also in terms of directly contributing to the state’s finances.
Local businesses, including restaurants, hotels, and taxi operators, “pleaded” with the CCP to let casinos resume operations because there “no nightlife in the city” after dark. Additionally, the CCP’s legal advisors had warned that a failure to renew the licenses would likely result in a court challenge that could negatively impact the city’s finances.