Quote: Goa: a sort of racy and mildly unrespectable seaside playground best kept in a cultural isolation ward. The temptation to draw parallels between Goa and Macau in China is strong,
Source: IGWB: International Gaming & Wagering Business, May 2008 at http://www.igwb.com/CDA/Articles/Spotlight/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_1000000000000 0322749 Title: A Passage to Gaming: Casino growth in India. 2110 words. Excerpts: Casino gaming appears to be gaining momentum in India. In April, Highstreet Cruises and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., announced that it planned on launching the nation's largest floating casino this month in the state of Goa. The Casino Royale ship will feature 50 table games, 30 slot machines, restaurants and entertainment areas. The vessel will also have rooms and suites to hose guests during gaming sessions, in addition to a 50-room floating hotel at its mooring facility in Panjim. "Goa is absolutely the right location for offshore casinos. Some 65 flights come in every day including 30 charter flights full of tourists during season and all of them look for some form of entertainment in addition to the beaches," Jaydev Mody, direct of Highstreet Cruises, told Mint, an India-based national business newspaper. Earlier this year, Mumbai-based Pan India Network Infravest Pvt. Ltd. (PINIP) revealed it would also float a casino in Goa. The Maharajah Casino will have 35 table games and 22,000 square feet of gaming space, restaurants, entertainment facilities and a sun deck. The casino will be on the 70-meter long US$25 million vessel anchored off of the Goa capital Panjim. Patrons will be ferried back and forth from land to the casino. The vessel was scheduled to launch in April. Goa announced last year that it would issue five gaming licenses for floating casinos. The state is already home to one floating casino and wagering devices at some five-star hotels. It is currently the only Indian state that allows casino wagering, but other Indian jurisdictions appear to be preparing to take the gaming plunge. Despite much speculation about the potential for licensed land-based casino gaming in India, no lobbyist or entrepreneur so far seems to have extracted a public commitment from the central government to make it happen on a nationwide scale. The problem may be that India isn't against land casinos, per se; it just wants them owned by Indians. Which of these rich states is likely to push for land-based casino gaming? In a recent investors report, Deutsche Bank identified Goa, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh as the three Indian states most likely to push for land-based gaming rights. It's possible to argue that Goa is a special case. It wasn't even officially part of the country until 1961, when Portugal ceded control to Delhi after 450 years of occupation. Some Indians perceive it as a sort of racy and mildly unrespectable seaside playground best kept in a cultural isolation ward. The temptation to draw parallels between Goa and Macau in China is strong, as Deutsche Bank suggests... Full text at http://www.igwb.com/CDA/Articles/Spotlight/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_1000000000000 0322749