Casinos in the Indian state of Goa have not led to a rise in criminal activity, according to the state’s Chief Minister.
On Wednesday, CM Laxmikant Parsekar delivered a written reply to a query by Goa’s Legislative Assembly regarding the impact of the state’s five floating casinos and 11 land-based gaming venues on the state’s crime rate. Parsekar noted that “no such complaints have been received by the home department.”
Goa Police official stats for 2015 showed the crime rate falling 31.2% from 2014. Theft cases were down 48%, ‘heinous’ crimes were 26% lower and crimes against women fell nearly 20%.
Goa ranked second among all Indian states and union territories in the number of crimes committed by and against tourists but tourism is Goa’s primary industry, and thus it attracts significantly more foreigners than other Indian states.
Goa is currently preoccupied with finding a permanent home for the state’s floating casinos, which have been given until March 31, 2017 to find somewhere other than the Mandovi river to ply their trade. The current frontrunner is a spot on the Zuari river near Chicalim Bay although local residents aren’t wild about the plan.
Goa’s opposition politicians are equally critical of the plan and continue to push for Parsekar’s BJP government to revoke all casino licenses. But these arguments are not only hypocritical – given that it was the Congress party that originally approved casinos – but can be remarkably unhinged from reality.
On Wednesday, Congress legislator Pandurang Madkaikar claimed that Goa was “the third largest destination for casinos in the world,” behind only Macau and Las Vegas. This will certainly come as news to actual third-largest market Singapore, not to mention the rapidly growing Philippine market. In fact, Goa’s casinos offer a combined total of roughly 400 gaming tables and 200 slot machines, while the new Okada Manila alone will host 500 tables and 3k slots when it opens this November.
Madkaikar also claimed that Goa’s casino industry effectively amounted to a shadow government. Madkaikar said Jaydev Mody, who runs India’s largest casino operator Delta Corp, will in future “decide who will be a minister and a Chief Minister. In 10 years, casinos will take over Goa and all of us.” Yes, and Soylent Green is people.
