MARCH 27
Govt decides to hike annual recurring fees of both offshore and onshore casinos manifold with effect from April 1
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NEW FEES >>
OFFSHORE CASINOS
400 PASSENGERS
* Now: Rs 40 crore; Previolusly: Rs 12 crore
200-400 PASSENGERS
* Now: Rs 30 crore; Previously: Rs 11 crore
UP TO 250 PASSENGERS
* Now: Rs 25 crore; Previously: 10 crore
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ONSHORE CASINOS >>
1000 SQ MT GAMING AREA
* Now: Rs 40 crore; Previously: Rs 8.50 crore
100-1000 SQ MTS
* Fees now stand between Rs 10-36 crore
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PANAJI: More than a month after the fee hikes came into effect, casino operators in the state have begun paying their fees with sources informing that as many as three casinos operators -- most pertinently Golden Globe Hotels -- have paid their annual recurring charges while few others including prominent operators the Pride Group and the Deltin Group are expected to pay over the coming days.
Besides the Golden Globe Hotels, Sterling Resorts in Varca and Chances Casino run by one Dr William Britto, both land-based casinos have paid their dues.
The casino operators were initially seeking a rollback of the fee hikes on grounds that they were too steep and had approached the government for a rollback and had initially asked the government for a provision to pay the fees in instalments. The government was willing to consider the demand but no decision has been taken yet.
True enough, sources have informed that two land-based casinos -- Crown Casino run by the Dempo Group and the casino at Marriott Hotel at Miramar, have informed the government that they have shut down their business as it was not viable.
On March 27, the government of Goa informed that it was hiking the annual recurring fees of both offshore and onshore casinos manifold with effect from April 1.
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 Rs12-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 with the biggest casinos offering over 1000 square metres of gaming area having their fees hiked from Rs 8.50 crore to Rs 40 crore. The smaller casinos all have their fees hiked with the new annual recurring charges now 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 stands at Rs 50-lakh up for Rs 20-lakh it was earlier.
However, a group of two onshore casino operators said that the feel hike was unfair on the onshore casino operators while being manageable for the offshore operators and demanded that the government either roll back the fee hike for land-based casinos or allow them to have live gaming instead of only electronic gaming.
