Goa Casinos Set to Make a Killing This Independence Day Weekend, With Game-Loving Gujaratis Making a Beeline for 4 Day Extended Holidays

2014 spells cheer, especially to those seeking free holidays, with its record number of 14 long weekends. These extended paid holidays are manna for both, recreational and aspiring poker players, who cannot afford to take many offs from work to indulge in their passion for the game.

While, we have already witnessed 3-day long weekends in March and April this year, it is the upcoming one in mid August that promises cheer with a full 4 days of leisure.

Starting on Friday, August 15 – Independence Day, past the preceding Saturday and Sunday, the leave extends to Monday August 18, which is the Janmashtami holiday. The next large weekend will occur only in November, so most people are busy making the most of this rainy one. Poker-aficionados especially, are delirious planning their trips to the nearest casinos and poker rooms, namely Goa and Bangalore.

Ideally, Daman is best placed geographically to attract the western region crowd and has an equally enticing beach venue to satiate the appetites of hobby and tourist players. The Deltin Group already has a huge luxurious hospitality property in Daman, which boasts of 176 rooms, banquet divisions and a host of excellent amenities. The group had announced of a 60,000 sq. ft. space solely for an internationally styled casino, but reports state that this gigantic playing hub will be operational only by October 2014. Earlier this year, the Daman Deltin received 5 Star Accreditation from the Indian Ministry of Tourism.

As far as the garden city of Bangalore goes, the Rockets Poker Room has already announced its new cash games festival on the Independence weekend. The tournament schedule includes an ₹5K Double Rebuy/Addon event with a guarantee of ₹5 Lakhs for August 15. On August 16, there will be the ₹25K freezeout tournament, with a guarantee of ₹10 Lakhs.

Bangalore with its serious poker-dedicated rooms is more apt to draw the hard-core professional poker playing types, who seek nothing more than the pure rush of high-octane poker action.

Goa however, stands to benefit more, due to its beachy holiday attractions and its close proximity on the western coast of India, drawing the large gambling and fun-crazy crowd from Gujarat.

Players thronging to Goa will have an added option for enjoying their poker games, with the revival of the Deltin JAQK Poker Room. PokerGuru had earlier reported the reopening of the defunct Deltin JAQK casino, which has been recently taken over by Prashant Agarwal and his team. The new management is planning several excellent playing varieties, with enhanced add-on services.

However, it is not only JAQK that benefits from Gujarat traffic. Other two operational casinos – Casino Deltin Royale and Casino Pride are too set to see a surge in profits.

Restrained by the state government’s strict laws towards gambling and imbibing, fun loving Gujaratis are heading in large numbers to the Goan paradise that allows them to let their hair down and indulge in their speculative streaks.

The state has been coming down heavily on gambling and the beginning of August saw the police bust five players at a restaurant, seizing ₹25 Lakhs in cash, besides cars, cell phones etc. This arrest was the second this year involving Gujarati players, with an earlier bust taking place at Bangalore.

Obviously, prohibition is not going to deter a cultural habit that has been passed down over the ages.

Die-hard players are therefore eying Goa for some legal gaming and its verdant holiday attractions this upcoming long weekend.

The sunny state has already seen a surge in hotel bookings, as well as in flights, with travel operators inundated by the demand. The huge rush has led to a phenomenal increase in airfares, going up to almost ₹18,000 per return ticket.

Ahmadabad has only one direct flight to Goa, run by Air Indigo, which is already running full. This means others will have to travel via Mumbai, again an increasingly expensive affair.

Manish Sharma, Chairman, Gujarat tour operators association remarked, “It is a well-known fact that Gujaratis enjoy their gambling and traditionally play on Janmashtami and through Shravan. Goa is a perfect getaway for a 3-day holiday and with like the beaches and casinos, it is more attractive.”

He added that, “Inquiries for Goa increased following the rains. Most bookings for Goa are of men travelling in groups.”

Enthusiastic players are looking forward to some serious fun and professional Harshil Patel says, “Every year I enjoy gambling during Janmashtami and Diwali with my family but this year I am travelling to Goa with my friends to enjoy some real gambling in the casinos there.”

Cover Image Courtesy: Tushky.com