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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Will Not Allow Casinos In The State

As per the latest news reports West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that she will not allow casinos in the state. Banerjee reportedly said that Goa has casinos but she will not allow casinos in West Bengal owing to a difference in the culture in both the states. The fast-growing Indian online gaming industry received a lot of attention from several ministries. This could lead to the ministries taking measures to regulate the industry which is long overdue.

Among the several ministries who have shown keen interest in regulating the online gaming industry are the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Finance Ministry. As per media reports, MeitY released a draft on online gaming rules to establish regulation. The Finance Ministry in its Union Budget 2023 announced key provisions for taxation on the online gaming industry.

The latest news reports on casinos in West Bengal, Banerjee states that it is not in the state’s culture to have casinos which turns a blind eye towards the well-known fact that casinos lead to increased revenue for a state and also helps in curbing the illegal gambling dens which crop up due to lack of regulation in the industry. Indian states like Goa, Daman and Diu have several casinos operating legally which have successfully boosted the state government’s coffers in terms of generating revenue from the tourists population.

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In October 2022, the Joint Action Committee Against Casino (JACAC) led a series of campaigns in Meghalaya to protest against establishing casinos. JACAC wanted the Meghalaya state government to take the repeal route when it came to the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act 2021.

The Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act 2021 legalized the casinos in the Meghalaya was then repealed in the month of November through an ordinance when pressure kept building from corners on having casinos in the state. As of now, only two states allow casinos to operate legally, but soon casinos could come up across different Indian states given the urgency in establishing regulations and boosting state government cash repository.

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