The Governments last minute decision to ask Casinos to remain shut on Gandhi Jayanthi, may well have had a noble and just purpose. But what defies logic is the perverseness with which the order was issued with less than a day to go, for their one day shutdown.
There is merit in the belief that if all establishments observe a dry day, the casinos should not be exempt, but there is no merit in a functioning civil government taking decisions in this sudden ad-hoc manner reminiscent of a banana republic.
The same decision could have been arrived at a couple of weeks ago, – Gandhiji’s birthday isn’t quite a historical secret- after consultations with the Casino and the Tourism industry, giving them time to inform guests, of the closure plan on October 2. This is important since a majority of casino players do a package deal with hotels.
The state government must also realise that without compromising on values and laid down norms, ad-hocism cannot be a calling card of a government whose economy is dependent completely on tourism. The moral rhetoric and chest beating on the damage to the social fabric casinos cause has a running platform with no interruptions. The shutting of a casino for just one day even if it’s on Gandhi Jayanti, cannot be dovetailed into his larger debate.
The issue at hand here is not whether casinos should run, whether on shore, off shore or even under water. The narrative and the line of argument here is whether you give the correct signals for business and industry when you decide to pull the plug on business, without even an FYI (For Your information) consultation with industry, even if it is for day, with a notice of less than 24 hours. The decision to shut them down for Gandhi Jayanti, is arguably well intended but when this intention was not imposed last year or the year before, how was the Casino industry supposed to assume that this year would be different.
There is another issue here. Even though you can debate till the cows home about the need for casinos or not, there is a fundamental difference between them and the worlds’ oldest profession, which somehow always comes into the mix of the fire driven anti casino lobby. Then government has licensed them and accepts Rs 150 crores annually from them. The daily fee they give to the government is Rs 3 lakhs. The counter argument would be that they earn 100 or more times that amount. But this is not about the amount but the fact that the government provides legitimacy to the industry by granting them a licence to operate and taking fees from them and till that legitimacy lasts, the industry has to be treated at par with any other industry within the same eco system.
The fall out of this, which the government does not seem to have considered, will be on tourism, which unfortunately even the TTAG does not seem to have factored. There is an impression that casino tourists are single men who land, check into their hotels and head for the casinos, gamble and head back. While this is partially correct, there is credible industry feedback that 50% of casino goers, especially during long weekend and national holidays, include a casino visit to their overall family holiday, even if just the male member actually plays. So a casino experience becomes a part of the overall Goa experience. Therefore if the government decides to shut them down, it is not the loss of business for casinos that is the issue, tourists getting disappointed is the bigger issue.
Moreover in the larger world beyond moral fires raging in Goa, a tourist looks at national and global options to visit, experience and enjoy. If Goa isn’t in a position to offer it, he will go elsewhere. All that industry and not just the casino industry is looking for is clarity and advance notice. And if the bigger decision is to stop all casinos, then the neither here nor there imbroglio should stop and the government should pull the plug once and for all and say that it is prepared for the consequences.
