A proposal before the Home Ministry maintains that relocating the gambling hubs to the hinterlands of the capital valley or even farther away could significantly cut down on the number of Nepali citizens flocking to them. [break]
The proposal also comes against the background of an alarming trend of crime in the capital attributed to gambling.
“It now feels like something that you simply try out along the streets. Even persons headed toward the grocery store seem to have ended up in the casinos,” said DIG Bigyan Raj Sharma, who was involved in drafting the proposal. “Lying right at your doorstep, it is just enticing.”
The Home Ministry could soon propose to the government an amendment to the Gambling Act 1963, addressing the need to relocate the casinos in the capital. “We forwarded the proposal after we were asked by the ministry to suggest measures to control illegal entry of Nepali citizens in the casinos,” added Sharma.
The government has hit upon this idea at a time when casinos in the capital are known to have been causing a betting spree among Nepalis during the ongoing World Cup. The metropolitan police recently raided four casinos and arrested 19 Nepalese in this connection.
The proposal, Sharma said, holds that casinos at a considerable distance from the core urban areas would only draw compulsive gamblers and also make it easier for the authorities to monitor and control them.
There is, however, a faction at the Home Ministry and Nepal Police that sees the proposal as a gambit to provide gamblers a safer haven. “If the government allows us to take action against the owners, there will not be a single person taking a shortcut to the casinos,” said a senior police officer.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Ramesh Kharel, chief of Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu, claimed that the recent raid was conducted to jolt complacency among casino owners that they could easily entertain Nepali citizens. “It is part of our regular policing. That bookmakers were thronging the casinos was also a factor,” he added.
Kharel points out that clear criteria--that even considers permission, if possible, for capable locals-- and strict regulations could check malpractices in the casinos.
There are 10 casinos in the country-- eight operate in the premises of five star hotels in the capital and two are in Pokhara.
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