Goa governor says casinos should stay

Thursday 16th of March 2017

Goa Governor Mridula Sinha has said that casinos should be allowed to remain in Goa, despite comments from the ruling BJP Party that it wishes to ban the properties.

In a newspaper interview, Sinha said the casinos, situated mainly on boats in the Mandovi River, should be run according to regulations.

“One can’t shut them down since a lot of tourists and visitors frequent them. Instead of banning them, keep a strict watch on their activities,” she said.

The BJP was invited to form a government after recent elections in Goa, although no party won an outright majority.

The results were a relief for the casinos, amidst concern the populist Aam Aadmi Party would shut down properties. The upstart party had taken a hard line against gambling and had been expected to do well in the recent poll, the results of which were revealed on March 11.

However, it failed to garner any seats.

Although both the BJP and Congress Party have spoken out against the casinos while in opposition, in power they have not followed through.

Goa now has six floating casinos that offer table games, with several slot parlors on the mainland.

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