Goa’s casinos get yet another six-month stay of execution

Casinos in the Indian state of Goa are starting to treat the local government like a dentist, in that they’re constantly told to come back and see them in six months.

On Wednesday, Goa’s state government approved yet another six-month extension of the six floating casinos’ right to operate on the Mandovi river. The previous six-month stay of execution expired on March 31 and the casinos now have until September 30 to find somewhere else to ply their trade.

Various versions of Goa’s government have been trying to find an alternate waterway for the floating casinos for the better part of a decade but every proposal meets with opposition from local residents. The casinos are supposed to eventually relocate to a designated land-based gaming zone, although those plans are similarly ill-defined.

The situation took a left-turn last October, when the City of Panaji announced that inaction was no longer an option and it wouldn’t renew the floating casinos’ business licenses when they expired in March. The City has yet to comment on Wednesday’s news, but Panaji MLA Antanasio Monserrate said he would continue to press for the casinos’ relocation “as was promised to the people of Panajji.”