the goan I network
PANAJI
The fee hikes imposed on casino operators are grossly disproportionate, two land-based casino operators have said 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.
The duo of Kundan Shetye of Grant 7 Casino and C Shanti Kumar of Supreme Casino at Bogmalo and Casino Gold at Novotel in Candolim have, who said that they were speaking in their own capacity, said that the hiked fees would sound the death knell for land-based casinos, while offshore casinos, which are largely unregulated, would continue having a field day.
“The fee hikes are not proportionate. We are asking that the land-based casino fee be reduced by 50-70%, while the fees for offshore casinos can be increased even further,” Shetye who spoke on the occasion said.
“On average the fees of onshore casinos are increased 4-5 times but that of offshore casinos is only increased from 2.5-3 times,” he said.
He said that offshore casinos despite seeing higher footfalls and often exceeding capacity were given a lesser hike in fees.
“If they have an official capacity of 400 persons… but on a weekend and public holidays there are more than 700 people on the ship excluding crew and staff putting the lives of tourists who go there for entertainment at risk,” Shetye said.
“There is nobody to check how many people are being admitted to a casino vessel at a time,” he said.
He said onshore casinos cannot do such ‘cheating’ because they are judged on floor area and not passenger capacity and besides, with a lesser demand for onshore electronic gaming casinos, the question of taking more people than is allowed was out of the question.
“If offshore casinos are complaining about the fee hike, let them shut shop and I will find investors who will set up new casinos, there will be no loss to the government,” he said.
Shetye was of the opinion that if the government does not want to reduce the fees for the onshore casinos, they should allow them to have live gaming which will help them attract more guests and help achieve the required margins in order to pay the higher fees.
“We understand why the government may want to increase the fees, especially since the implementation of GST, the state’s commercial taxes department could no longer charge an entry fee for the casinos also to recover monies lost from the implementation of the GST,” Shetye said.
