High court bars entry of casino vessel with 2,000 guest capacity in Goa

Goa currently has six ‘offshore’ vessels berthed in the River Mandovi operating as casinos and used for live gaming

High Court of Bombay at Goa via an interim order on Wednesday restrained the entry of an offshore casino vessel into the limits of the River Mandovi, until further orders as it continues to hear pleas challenging a government order to allow the new 2,000-guest capacity vessel.

Goa currently has six ‘offshore’ vessels berthed in the River Mandovi. (Representative Image)

Hearing the pleas, the high court bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar took on record a statement by Advocate Darius Khambata representing Delta Pleasure Cruise Company Ltd, that “as of today, the vessel does not possess a certificate of survey.”

A certificate of survey under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 is granted by an authorised surveyor specifying the ship’s tonnage and build and such other particulars descriptive of the identity of the ship as may be prescribed. The certificate shall be delivered to the registrar before registry.

“Considering that, as of today, the vessel does not possess a certificate of survey, we deem it appropriate to direct that the vessel in question shall not sail into the Panjim Port, i.e. in the River Mandovi, without obtaining all the required certifications. Further, even if such certificates and requirements for sailing of the vessel into the Panaji Port are obtained, the vessel shall not sail into the Port without prior permission of this court,” bench said.

The citizens from Panaji and Reis Magos, a village on the northern bank of the river, challenged a government order that allowed a new 112 metre long, 28 metre wide, seven storey tall vessel to replace an existing vessel with a capacity of 70 guests.

They alleged that permission to berth was given despite objections from the captain of ports and the secretary of ports that the new vessel “may create further navigational hazards due to the clustering of vessels which will create a bottleneck at the mooring positions.”

In their petition, the petitioners also said that the new vessel will have more guest capacity than all the other casino vessels in Mandovi combined.

Goa currently has six ‘offshore’ vessels berthed in the River Mandovi operating as casinos and used for live gaming.

Goa’s 17 operational casinos; six offshore and 11 onshore casinos pay ₹354 crore in annual recurring licence fees, ₹437.23 crore from GST, and ₹11.42 crore to the River Navigation. According to recent government figures the casinos contribute ₹812.68 crore to the Goa government coffers.

Goa along with Daman and Diu and Sikkim are the only places in the country that permit casinos. Gambling is allowed through an amendment to the Goa Public Gambling Act first brought in 1992 which allowed the government to authorise five star hotels to have ‘electronic amusement’ (slot machines) and another subsequent amendment in 1996 which allowed table games (poker, etc.) only onboard ‘offshore’ casino vessels.