Team Herald
PANJIM: The huge jump in casino fees from the current financial year has led to closure of three land based casinos so far.
Sources in the Home Department said in the last one month, two casinos at Panjim-based resorts have closed operations, while another starred hotel’s casino was issued order to shut down as it failed to pay the hike in fees of Rs 40 crore. This operator was given a grace period up to May 8.
“Two casino operators conveyed to the government that it has shut operations last month. We have issued order to a starred hotel’s casino operator to close down as it did not pay the fees to government,” said a source.
The government in the last week of March took a major decision by increasing various licensing fees by up to 4.5 times, that came into force from April 1.
The annual recurring fee for offshore casino vessels with passenger capacity of over 400 has been hiked 3.5 times whereas the hike in the same fee for other casinos vessels ranges between 2.5 and 4.5 times. For offshore casinos with passenger capacity above 200 and up to 400 the fee has been hiked to Rs 30 crore a year as against existing Rs 11 crore whereas for vessels with passenger capacity up to 200 it has been increased to Rs 25 crore from the earlier Rs 10 crore a year.
The transfer license fee has also been upped. For onshore casinos, this has been increased to Rs 30 crore from Rs 10 crore while for offshore casinos the new fee stands at Rs 50 crore from the present Rs 20 crore. The licence application fee for both offshore and onshore casinos is hiked from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.
Casino operators also petitioned the government requesting to reduce the fees, but government has so far refused to do so.
Sources said the remaining casino operators have heeded to the new notification.
