Lord Parashurama’s looming statue has a more direct vantage upon the barely-floating casinos that crowd the Mandovi river at Panjim, but it is Goencho Saib’s intercession being invoked in the poignant and sorrowing artwork by Loretti Pinto that accompanies this column. Either way or even conjoined, it is painfully clear no divine forces have yet acted against their profane excesses. Earlier this week, there was yet another reminder of just how cheaply Goa has sold its own best interests away, when the chief minister told the legislature the state earned a grand total of 1661 crores over the past five years from licensed onshore and offshore casinos. That is a shockingly inconsequential sum – just 332 crores annually – adding up to less than 1.5% of the state budget. Even double that (which is roughly what is claimed over the past year) is not enough to make any significant economic impact, and it begs the question why the government keeps on bending over backwards to allow this predatory non-contributor to destroy Goa’s tourism brand.
Make no mistake, those are piddling numbers. Manufacturing revenue to the state ranges more than ten times higher, driven by almost 10,000 crores of annual pharmaceutical exports over the same past five years. Look into the available details of Goa’s economy, and it is clear that casinos barely contribute to tourism’s overall impact in the state – currently projected over 14000 crores each year – although, of course, the percentage is a bit higher in terms of direct government revenues. Nonetheless, looking at the bigger picture, it is glaringly obvious there is no adequate payoff or adequate compensation for the huge ongoing damage to Goa’s formerly justifiably legendary reputation as one of the finest, most unique and unspoiled destinations in the world.
Looking back from the shameful status quo, you can see the downfall happened very fast, from that singular shining moment of hope on the 2012 campaign trail, when the late Manohar Parrikar declared he was against the “bad money” from casinos, “I am strongly against gambling. We don’t need them.” He promised to get rid of those already resident in the Mandovi by the end of his prospective term in office, but immediately after elections it became clear that was not going to happen. What is more, that same pathetic rigmarole continues in 2025, after the monstrous flotilla has only grown in size and now flashes neon 24/7, while the public is still fed the same old shoddy charade about “consultations” on “permanent alternative sites” (actually, the best option by far is Mormugao).
At the same time, in plain sight of everyone who should really know better, the casino lobby has successfully managed to avoid regulatory oversight, subvert public sentiment to massively expand its tawdry footprint throughout the Panjim waterline, and overwhelm all available sightlines with its vulgar come-hither. You are assaulted from the point of arrival at either airport – as gambling is immediately thrust in your face and it stays that way from the parking lot through to the highway – and in the capital traffic literally stands still outside their doors. The effect is overwhelming - you are being duped into believing Goa is about casinos, and that gambling is some kind of major attraction for India’s smallest state. Even worse, it comes across that Goans approve of this menace, when the exact opposite is true.
That obvious truth was especially colourfully underlined during the ultimately flopped and farcical 2019 elections to replace Parrikar in Panjim after his demise, when the current MLA galvanised the race saying “I promise to remove the casinos from the Mandovi river within the first 100 days of my taking office.”
The AAP candidate had already promised something similar, but now Subhash Velingkar of Goa Suraksha Manch – he had once been Parrikar’s mentor in the RSS - also stood up for a casino-mukt capital, declaring “They have destroyed the city with their presence, and with the ethical and social ills they propagate. I promise to do away with them. They have not only disturbed society and the culture of the state, but have also polluted the Mandovi with their waste. We will send them into the deep sea.” Finally – and this is the punchline – the ruling BJP also joined the chorus, via then-state unit president Vinay Tendulkar: “The party’s demand is that offshore casinos should be shut. If people don’t want onshore casinos, which function from five-star hotels, they too will be closed. We have been assured that the government is thinking about it and when the time comes, we will shut down the casinos”.
(Vivek Menezes is a writer and co-founder of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival)