13th Jan 2017 | ECONOMICTIMES.COM

MUMBAI: The gaming lobby in India wants the government to relax the rules and allow activities including sports betting, gambling, and lottery. Currently only 13 Indian states offer lottery, six states allow horse racing, and two states (Sikkim and Goa) allow and offer some sort of casino-based gaming.

All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), which had earlier sent a letter to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to allow foreign direct investment in the sector, claims that even as these industries are increasingly been recognised as legitimate industries globally, offering entertainment and recreation avenues to millions across the world, they still remain illegal in most parts of India.

Goa and Sikkim have used gaming as a way to capture additional revenue from their existing tourism bases. The Union Territory of Daman and Diu also permits casino gaming; however, its first casino is still awaiting its gaming license.

Most gamblers in India prefer to visit locations like US (Las Vegas), Singapore, Malaysia and Macau. In fact, Indian visitation cracked Macau’s top ten visitor source markets in 2015. The number of Indians visiting Las Vegas has continued to grow over the years and India now ranks within the top ten countries from which tourists visit.

Roland Landers, CEO, AIGF said that the Indian gaming patron is not appropriately served by attractive, proximate gaming destinations. The existing gaming markets in and near the country generally offer an unattractive gaming product that could be easily and vastly improved upon.

“Other gaming destinations fail to adequately market or cater to the Indian gamer. Even so, Indians continue to demonstrate a proclivity for gambling, as many Indians frequent legal casinos domestically and seek out gaming opportunities abroad, which is a huge loss to state revenues.” He added, “Even though many Indians demonstrate a strong propensity for casino gaming, casinos are not readily available or accessible in the market today as they are often an airline flight or more away.”

Also, without access to an appropriate amount of attractive gaming facilities today, the Indian gaming market is far from reaching its potential. In the long term, AIGF believes, Indian states and the central government must consider and recognise the significant economic contributions that integrated casino resort developments can bring to their communities in the form of job growth, tax revenue and tourism.

Ritul Sethi, head of operations at Sikkim’s Golden Gaming betting and online gambling arena, said “I believe there is a massive revenue opportunity for companies like us as well as governments. With proper authority in place, this industry can flourish.”