PANAJI
“I sincerely believe that gambling is not good. If we can we should remove it from the state. It is human nature to gamble that is why we cannot eradicate it completely, but definitely we cannot encourage it,” Parrikar told Doordarshan (DD) News in an interview, last night.
The stand of the previous BJP government which was led by Parrikar for the first half of the term and Laxmikant Parsekar for the second half was that the casino industry provided over Rs 150 crore in revenue and this is what made it hard for the government to shut it down even though it is bad.
Parrikar also said that because gambling is bad, “we had decided on a policy to ban Goans from going to casinos. Lot has been done about it and in the days to come there will be a complete ban on locals going to casinos.”
The Chief Minister, however, said that the state government will not shut down
the casinos immediately, as some companies have invested in it.
In other words, while gambling is bad for Goans, it does not matter if other Indians lose money in casinos as long as the government’s revenue stream is not affected and casino owners earn returns on their investments.
Parrikar also said the state government will relocate off shore casino vessels from River Mandovi to another location.
It may be recalled that an attempt was made by the Parsekar government to shift casinos to the Chapora and Zuari rivers. A proposal was submitted by a private entrepreneur to shift casinos in the Zuari river off Chicalim. The idea was dropped after strong protests from locals.
