4 Minutes Read
After an absence of over seven months, the Goa casinos finally resumed operations on November 1. This move came just three days after Chief Minister (CM) of Goa, Pramod Sawant, announced that the state government had given the green light to casinos to restart operations. The CM has allowed the casinos to resume operations but at 50% capacity.
This was an exciting announcement and a much-needed one for the state, which is heavily dependent on tourism.
However, the news of the reopening didn’t come without opposition. Among the protestors is the Goa Youth Congress that submitted a memorandum to Goa’s Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, opposing the BJP-led state government’s decision to reopen the casinos.
PokerGuru reached out to the prominent poker room operators in Goa for more details on the reopening.
Manish Adnani & Vasim Rozani Shares Details on Reopening of Casinos
Business Head – Poker at Delta Corp, Manish J. Adnani, and Big Daddy Poker Room Operator Vasim Rozani confirmed Casino’s Deltin Royale and Big Daddy resumed operations on November 1. They also clarified that their respective poker rooms, Adda52 LIVE and Spartan Poker LIVE, resumed operations the same day.
PokerBaazi LIVE is still not operational as operator Chirag Sodha confirmed, “Basically the poker room will be functional only once we are sure about the players’ safety and the same will be announced soon. Poker tournaments are unlikely to happen immediately and will be dependent on how the pandemic situation unfolds.”
Preparations For the Reopening
Rozani and Adnani discussed the stringent measure that both operators have taken to ensure their visitors’ safety and health.
“Right from the start, when visitors are entering the casino, we are sanitizing each and every guest with sanitizers. Masks are compulsory to enter the casino. We have ensured that there is a lot of distance kept between food items so that social distancing is maintained even when people want to get some food and beverages,” said Rozani.
Adnani echoed similar steps: “We will be strictly following the government-approved norms for health check at the entry point. Our tables are all adapted to the new international social distancing norms with fiberglass shields and 6-max seating.”
The Fate of Casino Staff
While sharing the news about the reopening of casinos, we had wondered what would be the fate of the casino staff – the majority of whom had returned to their native places during the pandemic-induced lockdown. We asked both Adnani and Rozani the same question.
“A significant segment of the staff have returned to their native homes. While it may take some time to get back to full strength, we are currently operating at half the capacity. We do have the required staff stationed in Goa ready to kick off operations effectively,” Adnani revealed.
Rozani confirmed that they were hiring new staff for the reopening and also re-hiring their old team.
Prospective Player Participation
Even though the casinos have reopened, the threat of COVID-19 is not over yet. While it is true that poker enthusiasts have been missing the live poker experience, t is equally true that the pandemic is still not over. We had wondered what kind of player participation the poker room operators were expecting in times like this.
Rozani shared that the players were extremely excited about the casino reopening. Extending an open invitation to all poker lovers, Rozani said, “All players are always welcome to come to Goa. We will make sure that once they enter our casino, all our visitors are safe and secure. We are ensuring that our visitors have access to sanitizers even after they leave the casino floor.”
In fact, we spoke with Rozani today to ask him how the first day of reopening went, and he told us that about 25 players had visited the poker room on Sunday. Two cash tables of ₹25,000 buy-in Texas Hold ’em tables were running.
Adnani revealed that he had been receiving enquires from players regarding the opening of casinos.
“Even before the announcement, players have been enquiring when the live rooms would resume. The enthusiasm to play live poker is right up there amongst a significant number of players. Since the announcement, there has been a burst of calls and texts enquiring about the reopening.”
Future of Live Poker
Casinos are open, so are the poker rooms. But the real question stands – what about the return of live poker series?
Adnani logically pointed out that the players who reside in Goa will enjoy the live poker experience more than those located in different parts of the country.
“Given that the situation is dynamic, my sense is that it will take some time for the tables to get back to past numbers. In the current, there is a large population of players who have moved to Goa and am confident that they will get their share of the live poker experience at the tables.”
But he did give us some hope as far as the return of live tournament poker is concerned.
“Technically once we open, we can host events as the rest of the infrastructure required like hotels, transport, air travel are all live. Given the current update of the COVID-19 in India and across the world, I think January would be a good start point to have live events,” he said.
So, it may not be a grand comeback, but it’s a hopeful one. Live poker is back in Goa, and now we just have to wait and see when live poker tournaments will return. Fingers crossed for January 2020.