{"id":23642,"date":"2021-10-18T11:39:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T14:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=23642"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:42:08","slug":"goa-dismisses-challenge-to-ban-on-locals-entering-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/goa-dismisses-challenge-to-ban-on-locals-entering-casinos","title":{"rendered":"Goa dismisses challenge to ban on locals entering casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Authorities in Goa have dismissed a petition that called for local people to be allowed to play at the state&#8217;s casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>India.- A petition against Goa&#8217;s ban on <strong>local people from playing in the state\u2019s casinos&nbsp;<\/strong>has been dismissed by the Goan High Court. The petition has been lodged by 25-year-old student Shur Usgaonkar. He argued that the restriction abused a law that forbids any state from passing legislation that encroaches on common liberties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the court concluded: &#8220;The object of the State is naturally to prevent the person domiciled in Goa to be lured into such chance games and to suffer poverty and mental trauma for their families.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Goan government originally vowed to keep local people from the state&#8217;s casino venues in 2012<\/strong>, but a ban didn&#8217;t happen until February last year. In spite of the ban, there is still no law setting out the standards for its implementation. The ban covers Goa&#8217;s six floating casinos and land-based gaming venues in five-star hotels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/india-casinos-in-goa-allowed-to-reopen\">Casinos in Goa<\/a>&nbsp;were allowed to reopen in September for&nbsp;<strong>those who are fully vaccinated or provide a negative Covid-19 test<\/strong>. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/delta-corp-casinos-in-goa-to-remain-closed-until-august-2\">Delta Corp\u2018s casinos in Goa<\/a>&nbsp;have been closed since April 29. In May&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/delta-corp-asks-for-waiver-on-licence-fees\">the company<\/a>&nbsp;asked authorities for<strong>&nbsp;a waiver on licence fees&nbsp;<\/strong>due to the impact on its venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Goa\u2019s offshore casinos get twelve-month extension<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/goas-offshore-casinos-get-twelve-month-extension\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Goa\u2019s state cabinet<\/a>&nbsp;has granted a<strong>&nbsp;twelve-month extension for off-shore casinos to continue<\/strong>&nbsp;to operate<strong>&nbsp;on the Mandovi River in Panaji<\/strong>&nbsp;until October 1, 2022. According to The Times of India, the government had identified four possible sites to relocate casinos but all were found to be technically not feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities have proposed extending the time limit for shifting offshore casinos from the river until next year.&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/goas-offshore-casinos-get-six-month-extension\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">An extension had been previously settled<\/a>&nbsp;in February. At the time, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said casinos&nbsp;<strong>were going to remain where they are until an alternative location is found<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government had found a location along the coast in Verem, near Reis Magos, and one of the casino operators has agreed to move to that location, but the was opposition from Saligao MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities in Goa have dismissed a petition that called for local people to be allowed to play at the state&#8217;s casinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":23655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Goan High Court has upheld the ban preventing local residents from gambling in the state's casinos, citing public welfare concerns and dismissing a petition challenging the restriction. Concurrently, the Goan state cabinet has granted a twelve-month extension for offshore casinos to remain on the Mandovi River until October 2022, due to the technical infeasibility of proposed relocation sites.","focusai_entities":"Goa High Court, Shur Usgaonkar, Delta Corp, Pramod Sawant, Jayesh Salgaonkar","focusai_location":"Goa, India, Panaji, Mandovi River, Verem, Reis Magos","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Goa Local Play Ban","query":"What are the specific regulatory compliance frameworks and operational adjustments Goan casino operators must implement to effectively enforce the local play ban, particularly given the stated lack of implementation standards?"},{"label":"Offshore Casino Relocation","query":"What are the long-term capital expenditure implications and potential revenue impacts for offshore casino operators in Goa, such as Delta Corp, given the repeated delays and technical challenges in identifying a permanent relocation site?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16334],"tags":[23911,23907],"class_list":["post-23642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23656,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions\/23656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}