Rita, a young middle-class woman had never imagined her husband’s gambling addiction would lead to separation within seven-to-eight months of their married life. The distraught lady tried her best to bring her NRI husband on the right track but in vain, leaving her with no option but to file for a divorce petition.
“He would return home late at night or not turn up at all for some days. There was also a time when he took me to offshore casinos and I never disappointed him. He always chose casinos over married life,” she said speaking to Herald.
Frequent casino visits and gambling addiction was the sole cause for their split even as Rita said she tried her best to keep the marriage alive and intact. “Who wants separation? It was a tough decision,” she commented.
Another couple faced a similar consequence wherein the wife was even subjected to domestic violence. Hasiba recalls how her husband sold off all the gold ornaments that she brought as dowry at the time of the marriage to pay casino debts.
“My husband has lost a huge amount of money on casino gambling but this did not stop him from visiting the vessels. To pay off debts, he sold all my gold ornaments without taking me into confidence. He ill-treated me whenever I confronted him,” she narrated.
These are two of many ordeals that several families are significantly impacted by due to the growing casino accessibility in the tourism friendly State. The activists, protesting the existence of off-shore casinos are on record stating that gambling provides false hope of economic gain that ultimately destroys peace in a family.
There was a time when alcoholism among men led to violence in a family but the trend has moved a step further with casino gambling and violence going hand-in-hand.
“Until some years back, some alcohol addicted men would harass/torture their wives for money. Now, men need money for gambling. There are various instances where strong addiction has even led to people selling their houses, cars and this bankruptcy has further spoilt relations,” a social activist, who has counseled over a dozen similar cases in the last three months revealed.
Bailancho Saad convener Sabina Martins echoes the same view stating many families have been ruined owing to gambling. “Even small betting/gambling on the roadside tempts one to gamble in a casino. These people expect high earnings which they believe will be solved by gambling in off-shore casinos. But little do they realize that it has repercussions,” she said.
Despite these bad experiences, the present government has taken U-turns over the shifting of off-shore casinos. While the BJP manifesto for 2012 general assembly elections had promised the people of Goa that they would shift the vessels out of River Mandovi, former chief minister, Manohar Parrikar’s successor, Laxmikant Parsekar raised doubts over the shifting of these vessels in the absence of suitable infrastructure. Parsekar is even quoted as saying that doing away with the off-shore casinos may not be a good idea as it contributes to the revenue of the State but he would ensure no new vessels enter the business. The government had even stated that the vessels would be relocated from Mandovi River to an alternate location by December 2015-end which has been pushed to March 31, 2016.
The absence of a Gaming Commission to manage and regulate the industry has attracted ire from locals and activists. Every since its promise in 2012, the Goa government has still not decided a specific date to finalize and notify a Casino Policy and Gaming Commission. The State has missed out on all the deadlines with every assembly session.
In 2013, the cabinet had granted a conditional five-year license to offshore casinos with an undertaking from them that they would be allowed to continue operations only if they shift out of River Mandovi within two years. The cabinet also decided in August 2013 to limit the number of offshore casinos to five.
