Goa gov’t renews sixth floating casino license after court order

The Indian state of Goa has renewed a controversial floating casino license after a court ordered it to stop stalling and make a decision already.

On Wednesday, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court gave the state government 24 hours in which to consider whether or not to renew Golden Globe Hotels Pvt Ltd’s (GGHPL) casino license. On Thursday, the BJP government of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar duly complied, approving the launch of Goa’s sixth ‘offshore’ casino.

The license was issued just two days before the results of February’s state election are to be published. The BJP government had claimed its hands were tied on the casino issue until the votes were counted and it knew which party would form the next government. The rival Congress and Aam Aadmi parties have pledged to ban all the state’s casinos if they win the election.

The license renewal is valid for five years. However, given the tight timeline under which it was required to act, Parsekar’s government left open the possibility of challenging the High Court’s ruling at the Supreme Court at some future date, assuming the BJP is still in power after this week.