Panjim, the capital city of Goa, is littered with billboards and signs advertising the various casinos that have recently arrived in the city. Casino Pride, Casino Carnival and the Casino Royale are all floating casinos operating on the Mandovi river. Meanwhile, a number of five star hotels offer slots and other gambling games at the machines in their hotels.
Punters come from all over India to bet legally in India's gambling capital, however casino bosses are starting to worry that their marketing techniques may soon be curbed by the government. Despite adverts for casinos appearing all over India, doubts have recently emerged over the legality of these endorsements.
Dr Sabina Martins, an anti gambling activist, has recently made a complaint about the excessive advertisement of gambling in Goa. She claims that in Section 12 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gaming Act of 1976, the encouragement and advertisement of any gambling is outlawed.
Casino bosses hit back, arguing that they paid fiver crore rupees every year to the state of Goa for their licences. They feel that by paying that they earn the right to advertise their businesses. Indeed they even quoted section 13 A (2) of the 1992 amendment to the Public Gaming Act that legitimises gambling when operated with a license.
Martins has argued that the sale of alcohol is legal in many states but often the advertisement of such products remains illegal. She has asked why such a law hasn't been made in the case of gambling in Goa.
What remains apparent is that the gambling laws in Goa remain a grey area. It is difficult to work out the intricacies of the law there and until a gambling commission is set up in the state, it seems that thing will remain the same.
As it stands, if Dr Martins really wants to take on the casinos then she will have to employ some very good lawyers, because until the gambling commission is set up in Goa then the laws are all open to interpretation.
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