the goan I network
PANAJI
Annual fees of casino licences have been hiked manifold with the government more than doubling them along with other fees that the casinos pay to the government.
The decision to hike the fees, which comes into effect from April 1, 2018, comes on the back of the government’s decision to hike various excise fees for various licences with the liquor licences for the casinos being hiked the most.
According to the new list of fees decreed by the government, an offshore casino with a capacity of 400 passengers will have to pay an annual recurring fee of Rs 40-crore, which is 133% more than the existing annual recurring fee of Rs 12-crore they had to pay to the state government.
Similarly, the annual recurring fee of an offshore vessel of a capacity between 200 to 400 passengers has been hiked from Rs 11-crore to Rs 30-crore and for a capacity of up to 250 passengers from Rs 10 crore to Rs 25 crore.
Onshore casinos too will be asked to shell out more. Casinos with gaming area of over 1000 sq mts will have to pay Rs 40 crore from the earlier Rs 8.50 crore. The smaller casinos, all have their fees hiked with the new annual recurring charges standing between Rs 10-36 crore for casinos ranging from 100 square metres to 1000 square metres.
The annual recurring fees the casinos have to pay to the state government is over and above the licence fee, which has also been hiked. The application fee for a casino licence for both onshore and offshore casinos now stand at Rs 50 lakh up for which it was Rs 20 lakh earlier.
The renewal fee for a casino licence for both onshore and offshore has also been hiked from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
However, the government stands to benefit the most from a transfer of a casino licence from one party to another with the transfer of an offshore casino licence to cost a cool Rs 50 crore while the transfer of a hotel based casino will cost Rs 30 crore.
The hike in casino licence fees are seen as a means for the state government to generate its own revenue after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax completely flattened the State’s bottom line and took much of its revenue generation out of its control.
Earlier the state had hiked liquor licence fees with fees for onboard casino vessels also being hiked steeply.
A vessel with a licence for gambling with less than 50 passengers has to pay Rs 9 lakh per year compared to Rs 6 lakh earlier. For vessels with more than 50 passengers but less than 200, the licence fee has shot up to Rs 18 lakh from Rs 12 lakh while vessels with a capacity of more than 200 passengers have to pay Rs 35 lakh from the earlier Rs 25 lakh.
