Goa Casino Facing Huge Penalties For Sub-Letting

Recently, La Calypso Hotel, a Goa-based casino and hotel, has been issued an order to cease all casino operations immediately. This comes after the group- failed to pay its dues and was found to be sub-letting the premises.

This has been a long time coming, since the group has failed to pay annual fees owed since November 2020.

How La Calypso Fell Into Disrepute

In total, the group owes over RS 47 crore. This comes after failure to pay their annual fees since 2020. Above this, it was discovered that the La Calypso group had opted to illegally sublet the casino to Atlantis Entertainment and Beyond Motion India.

This goes against the Goa Gambling Act of 1976. As such, the government has enforced two challans against the group.

What Is The Consequence For The Group?

The La Calypso Hotel will now have to pay the fines owed in the following order:

RS 17 Crore to be paid with immediate effect
RS 10 Crore to be paid in installments over six months or sooner

Furthermore, the group will also need to pay an additional penal tax of 18% per year of delayed payment.

How La Calypso Responded

Kaushal Khanna, CMD of the La Calypso Hotel has tried to pass the payments off to the Atlantis Entertainment Group and the Beyond Motion India Group. Furthermore, he urged his case be reviewed with sympathetic consideration as the hotel had to close between November 2020 and September 2021 on account of Covid-19 restrictions.

However, it seems his pleas are falling on deaf ears. State Secretary, Prasad Gaonkar, pointed out that the group had no authority to sub-let the area. He released a statement saying,

"Considering all facts, the government is satisfied that the claims made by the licensee are not justified and in view of the condition the license issued to La Calypso Hotel PVT LTD stands suspended with immediate effect.""

This Isn’t The First Offence For The La Calypso Group

In 2016, Kaushal Khanna and Mandanlal Khanna – the owners of La Calypso – were arrested by the Calangute police for the destruction of property.

The pair trespassed on a local shack owned by Abhimanyu Rai. Shacks in Goa are a type of temporary structure that house bars or restaurants that appear along the beachfront.

The pair came armed with a hammer, a hockey stick, and a bottle of kerosene. They proceeded to harass the owner and workers, destroy the CCTV cameras, smash all the alcoholic beverages at the bar, and poured kerosene all over the shack, threatening to set it alight.

Luckily, Rai had informed the police who arrived and put the pair under arrest.