Goa’s state government has granted another six-month extension for the state’s six offshore casinos to remain on the Mandovi River.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced this week that the extension would run from 31 March to 30 September 2021, the latest in a series of extensions in recent years as the government continues to debate moving the casinos onshore.
A parcel of land at MOPA Greenfield International Airport in North Goa is among the candidate sites although no final decision has been made.
According to a report by Indian gambling industry news site GLaws, the government has been reluctant to shut the casinos down in the interim due to the tax revenues they generate. Sawant recently revealed that Goa’s offshore casinos had generated Rs 7.86 billion (US$108 million) in state revenue over the past nine years.
Goa’s casinos spent much of 2020 closed down due to COVID-19, having shut their doors on 14 March before eventually reopening almost eight months later on 1 November.
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