While I was contemplating what to write in this week's editorial, James Packer was publicly announcing his plans to invest $400 million for a casino resort in Sri Lanka. In a speech at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Colombo, he said that his casinos would act as ‘‘a leading tourist mecca for the rising middle class of India, China and the rest of Asia.’’ Without a doubt, Packer has got his figures worked out pretty well. Despite a domestic ban on gambling, Indians do illegally indulge in various forms of gambling and betting every year. Some reports suggest that the size of the domestic gambling and betting 'industry' could be beyond $60 billion a year; and this is not counting the amount Indians spend abroad in casinos and betting centres. However, most of these instances are not in public view and are virtually impossible to track. Here is where the government needs to make smart plans to exploit the benefits of both the worlds. Going by the way India wishes to increase tourism, and perhaps even minimise the number of Indian tourists going abroad (to save foreign exchange), the authorities need to seriously consider setting up domestic gambling centres as these could give quite a significant impetus to tourism revenues, given the lessons that are there to be learnt from Vegas, Macau and Singapore. Can ‘Incredible India’ and mini-Vegas, for the sake of argument, exist at one place? I am not advocating that India adopts gambling blindly – given the negative connotation the word exudes – nor am negating the social malaises that gambling might bring, but am simply pointing out that the government should at least review the undeniable global correlation that exists between GDP growth and setting up legalised gambling and betting centres within the country.
If the worry is that legalising gambling in India could increase social exploitation, one could explore setting up of such centres in stand-alone territories like Andaman and Lakshadweep islands, test out the initial waters and economic benefits, and depending upon the experiences and lessons learnt, open up more centres in other states. Opening highly regulated casinos in such stand alone territories may actually give a huge boost to employment and lifestyle in these regions.
If the worry is that legalising gambling in India could increase social exploitation, one could explore setting up of such centres in stand-alone territories like Andaman and Lakshadweep islands, test out the initial waters and economic benefits, and depending upon the experiences and lessons learnt, open up more centres in other states. Opening highly regulated casinos in such stand alone territories may actually give a huge boost to employment and lifestyle in these regions.
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