An Indian Gaming Commission that will be fashioned along the lines of the Nevada Gaming Commission could soon rise in India to regulate the state of Goa’s casino industry.
In a written reply in the state assembly Wednesday to a question asked by Congress member Aleixo Reginaldo, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said, “Rules are being framed and the same will be notified and implementation once finalized.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has committed itself to framing policy on casinos in Goa, the only state in India to permit live gambling.
The Gaming Commission would be responsible for Goa’s gambling business, much the same way the Nevada Gaming Commission controls gambling in Las Vegas. It will monitor the percentage casinos can make out of gamblers and the implementation of a grievance redressal mechanism. It would also have regulatory power over the state’s five international casinos and the dozens of local casinos that line the coastline.
According to Parrikar, Goa will not renew licenses of the international casinos if they do not comply with his order to move out of the Mandovi River.
By 2015, the Goa government expects all casino vessels to avoid the Mandovi River, which was deemed unsafe for bathing and fishing.
Meanwhile, the ill-fated casino project in Fiji appears to have met its last breath now that the Snoqualmie Tribe of Washington has sold its interest in the doomed venture.
Numerous media outlets reported that tribe’s partner in the development, One Hundred Sands, never began work on the $155 million project despite receiving an initial $1.5 million investment from the tribe.
In 2011, One Hundred Sands was granted an exclusive license to build Fiji’s first casino but has since sold its stake in the project to another party.
The tribe recently filed a lawsuit to try to recover its $1.5m but, tribe Chairwoman Carolyn Lubenau admits that this would be difficult.
The leader of the National Federation Party Biman Prasad said the news that the developer had sold its stake to another party was not surprising. “Right from the start it appeared to be something which was wishful thinking on the part of this government, that suddenly investors from outside the country will come in with millions of dollars and undertake some serious investment.”
