A floating casino in Goa’s Indian state is moving to a new temporary berth, but there is still no news about when the government can find a permanent home for its six shipboard gaming operations
Local media reported this week that the Deltin Group, an offshoot of India’s largest casino operator Delta Corp, obtained state approval to relocate their Deltin Caravela casino to another location on the Mandovi River. Currently the river is home to all six floating casinos, three of which Deltin operates.
In the midst of growing public dissatisfaction, Goa’s government has been trying for years
The immediate evacuation of the Deltin Caravela has nothing to do with social fear and all to do with a desire to reduce the amount of vomit on the ground. Local media reported that the new mooring position of the yacht, when the tide moves, is vulnerable to intense rolling and tossing, giving its gambling clients ‘ discomfort.’
GOA ‘S MEN MAD ABOUT MATKA, MEH ON CASINOS Meanwhile, a survey revealed that while nearly half of Goa’s male population are committed gamblers, the state’s casinos are simply not so popular with local people. A gambling incidence study of 1,514 local men reported in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry found that at some point in their lives 49.9 percent of respondents had gambling and 45.4 percent had gambling in the previous 12 months.
Unsurprisingly, in a nation which tightly restricts gaming exposure, the lottery remains the most popular method of betting at 67.8%, led by matka–a card-based lottery-style game–at 52.3%, after which things fall significantly to other card games (7.6%), dice (4.7%) and sports betting (3.3%).
Matka was the most popular gambling practice, with almost 40% of local men playing the game more than once a month, while sports betting ranked second at 18.2%. Sports rated the highest (9.1 percent) with matka second at 5.5 percent for betting more than three days a week.
Nonetheless, just 1.1 percent of respondents confessed to visiting a local casino at least once a month, indicating that there is little rationale behind the often-stated (but never realized) policy plan to ban local residents from crossing a floating casino gangplank.
Source: https://calvinayre.com/2019/11/22/casino/delta-shifts-goa-floating-casino-gamblers-vomiting/
