The casino laws of Goa are going to be revamped by the state home department and be recreated based on laws found in Macau. Local media are reporting that the draft gaming rules file has been recalled and the redrafted rules are to be sent for approval by next week to the state government.
The state home department decided to recall the file once it was found that several terms within the Goa Public Gambling Act of 1976 were not clearly defined. These terms include: casino, area, electronic gaming, offshore, live gaming, onshore casino, offshore casino as well as passenger capacity. These terms will be defined in the rules for further clarification.
The state cabinet has approved the defining terms this past Friday to be able to provide clear meaning for the terms as they will be used in the Act. Speaking with the Times of India, a senior home department officer stated that the new rules were redrafted based on casino rules of Macau in order to monitor onshore as well as offshore casino operations. Such Macau style rules were to include CCTV camera quality, how to keep track of records of consumers who visit gaming venues, how footage from CCTV is stored and more.
Within the redraft, it also says that the home department will provide power to the state government to appoint an individual as gaming commissioner. This individual can be a private person or an officer of the government.