Goa casinos to be watched

The city’s onshore and offshore casinos will be monitored as the elections will take place later in August.

India.- The Election Commission asked the Commercial Tax Department to pay attention to casino activity as the elections are getting closer to Panaji. Local media reported that the request comes to make sure that money is not getting misused during campaigning for the by-polls, AGBrief informed.

A senior official of the chief electoral office said: “We have asked the Commercial Tax Department to keep a close watch on the activities of the onshore and offshore casinos so that they are not misused to stash money for campaigning by candidates or political parties.” Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is contesting from the Panaji seat, the news outlet revealed. The official commented earlier this month that the casino industry is at risk of going cashless. Goa has been in the spotlight for several months now, as the off shore casinos are in the middle of the discussion of whether they should be relocated or not.

The five offshore casinos operating in the Mandovi river will be moved to a “special entertainment zone” out of the water within the next three years. The government is working on new gaming policies that eliminates casino vessels from the language, making sure that floating casinos cannot exist in the state anymore. The new measures will be applied to the five existing off-shore casinos.