Casinos in the Indian state of Goa were finally allowed to reopen on Monday, after four months in which they had to keep their doors shut due to restrictions related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Pramod Sawant, the Chief Minister of Goa, announced that only the customers who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to enter the casinos. Alternatively, clients can present a recent negative Covid-19 test.
“The expert committee compared the Covid-19 positivity rate over the last two-three weeks and it has been under 2 percent. In order to revive economic activity and tourism activity, casinos have been allowed to reopen on Monday with strict standard operating procedures,” the Chief Minister said.
There are several casinos in Goa, six of them are offshore casinos on the Mandovi river, and about a dozen other land-based casinos which are located inside the best hotels in the state. These casinos employ thousands of people and generate significant revenue for the state. Moreover, the reopening of the casinos should help boost the state’s tourism industry, which has suffered a lot during the pandemic.
With casinos now open, the industry stakeholders expect to see hotels, restaurants and taxi services get more and more customers as peak tourist season sets in next month.