KATHMANDU, March 31: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has said that the government has collected Rs 1 billion in royalties and renewal fees of casinos and other hotel business fees. He said the licenses of three casinos that refused to pay the royalty were revoked.

The Department of Tourism has written to the parties concerned to close down three casinos that have not paid their dues. Tourism Minister Ale had given the casinos five days’ deadline to pay the arrears.

According to Khemraj Joshi, Hotel and Casino Supervising Officer at the Department of Tourism, the department has written letters to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Police Headquarters to close the casino as they did not pay their dues to the government even within the deadline.

"We gave five days to the three casino companies to pay the arrears to the government. We have written to close the casinos now as they have not paid the arrears," he said.

According to the Department of Tourism, Rock International Pvt Ltd owes Rs 303.8 million, Happy Hour Kathmandu owes Rs 301.7 million and Oriental Hotels (Radisson Hotel), Lazimpat, owes Rs 300 million to the government for the operation of casinos.

The Department has stated that the licenses of the casino companies have been revoked as per Rule 14 of the Casino Rules, 2070 BS.

So far, 17 companies have paid Rs 870 million to the government in royalties, according to the Department.

 
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