A new draft rule for casinos has been framed by the home department of Goa. If the draft, which is already approved by the state government, are vetted by the law department, Goans, irrespective of their ages, can be arrested for visiting Casinos in own state.

Sanjiv Gadkar, additional home secretary informed that the draft which has received the state’s in-principle approval has been sent for vetting in the department of law. Once the law department vets the file, it will be put up to the cabinet for their approval.

The draft rules states that no Goan or anyone under the age of 21 will be allowed to gamble. This will be ensured by an appointed gaming commissioner, whose appointment procedures and required qualifications are enumerated in the draft rules. The gaming commissioner will have to appoint agents who will be issuing permits to authorize the entry of any person into a gambling zone. These permits will be issued against proper identity proofs produced viz. PAN card, driver’s license, passport, aadhar card etc.

These draft rules will not be affecting the Goans already working at the casinos, although this will keep a check on under age gamblers. The draft rules stated that police will be authorized to conduct regular searches in the casinos and arrest anyone under the age of 21, found gambling.

This is being done to keep away the Goans from the addiction of gambling as the government has faced severe criticisms in the past few years regarding how the casinos has ruined many families due to the addictive games which forced many into debts.

The Goa Public Gaming Act, 1976 was previously amended in June 2012 with the introduction of the Goa Public Gaming (Amendment) Bill, 2012.
This has disturbed the casino owners as their fast growing business might face some kind of downfall with the localities staying away from their business. Goa has four offshore casinos and around fifteen onshore casinos at present.