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Govt announces new fee structure for Goa’s casinos

The green signal given to Goa’s casinos from 1 November was met with excitement for many who were waiting for them to restart. The decision was made by the state government to revive the state’s economy, a large part of which comes from these casinos. However, many casino operators were worried about the annual recurring fees, as the casinos had not been in operation for most months of the year.

In earlier news, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had informed that casino operators would be able to pay the license fees on a monthly basis. This was confirmed again when the Home department recently issued a notification allowing the casinos to pay annual recurring fees for the financial year 2020-2021 on monthly pro-rate basis.

As per the notification, the new license fee for land casinos is fixed at: INR 10 crore for a pan area of up to 110 square meters, INR 20 crore for casinos with an area between 110 square – 330 square meters, INR 25 crore for casino with an area above 330 square meters – 550 square meters, INR 32 crore for casino with an area above 550 square meters – 825 square meters, INR 36 crore for casino with an area above 825 square meters – 1,100 square meters and INR 40 crore for casino with an area above 1,100 square meters.

For a casino license of off-shore casino the fees are fixed on the basis of on board vessel capacity with INR 25 crore for a vessel capacity of up to 220 passengers, INR 30 crore for a vessel that’s having total passenger capacity above 220 but up to passengers 440 and INR 40 crore for a vessel having total passenger capacity above 440 passengers.

But even with the new fee structure in place, casinos will take some time to resume full-fledged operations. Being closed since March, 2020, one can only expect the casinos to start at the earliest to benefit tourism. For more updates on Goa’s casinos, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com

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