Brick-and-mortar casinos in Goa will have to pay more to operate in the small Indian state.
The state government of Goa recently passed a legislation that hikes up—for the third year in a row—the license fees for land-based casinos. According to The Times of India, onshore casinos occupying up to 100 square meters will now be required to pay INR3.50 crore, or a little over USD523,500, every year for casino license fees. Last year, the government charged INR2.50 crore (USD373,900) in license fees for the same area.
For land casinos with a total area of more than 100 square meters up to 300 square meters, they will have to pay INR4.50 crore (USD673,100) in tax, up from last year’s INR3 crore (USD224,300), according to Home Department undersecretary Neetal Amonkar. Additionally, those larger than 300 square meters up to 500 square meters are now mandated to pay INR5 crore (USD748,000).
Fees are also increased for land-based casinos that are sized between 500 square meters and 750 square meters. Instead of INR4.5 crore (USD673,100), the largest sized casinos will now have to pay INR6.5 crore (USD972,500).
Amonkar also announced two new categories for land casinos: those with an area between 750 square meters and 1,000 square meters are required to pay INR8 crore (USD1.196 million), while those larger than 1,000 square meters will have to pay INR8.5 crore (USD1.271 million) each year.
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar was quoted by the news outlet saying that his government’s decision to increase casino fees “has been able to reduce the number of onshore casinos from a double digit figure to a single digit figure.”
The small Indian state currently plays host to 11 land-based gaming venues and five floating casinos. Goa is one of the three areas—Sikkim and Daman were the other two states—that allow live casinos to operate within its borders.
