Casinos to lure tourists to Sikkim

Gangtok gets its second gambling station

Gangtok, June 9: For those who want to try their luck in gambling while on a holiday have a good news. A five star hotel here has set up a casino, the second in the hill state, to attract visitors.

The new gambling destination became operational last evening at the Mayfair resort in Ranipool, 10km from here.

“Casino Mahjong is the first land-based live five star casino with a full-fledged licence in the country,” said Trio Ventures Private Limited’s co-managing director Ugen Ladakhi.

The Mayfair group that got the licence for the facility from the Sikkim government on June 1 has authorised the company to run the facility.

The casinos in Goa are mostly off-shore and those in the hotels are electronic. The gambling station here will be operated manually where the dealings would be done by the attendants.

The Mayfair group had paid Rs 5 crore to the state for the five year licence and Rs 3 crore was spent to set up the facility.

Sikkim got its first gambling destination in 2009 when a casino was opened at the Hotel Royal Plaza in Gangtok.

The casino has a provisional licence for five years.

Currently the casino at the Mayfair resort, which was given a five star tag by the ministry of tourism, has eight slot machines, four roulettes and 10 card tables spread over 5000sq feet.

There are 60 attendants and six pit bosses to look after the gambling station.

“We are having a soft launch of the casino now and the grand opening is on June 24 in which guests from all over India are coming. There is already a buzz about our casino given the kind of playing options and facilities we are providing,” said Ladakhi.

He added that 10 more slot machines would be added to the facility by August.

Those who plan to visit the casino can try their luck at blackjack, baccarat, poker, marriage, flush and roulettes.

“All the dealers at the casino are from Sikkim whom we have trained for a period of one and half years. Out of the 160 staff members only the top management is from outside who have decades of experience in handling casinos,” said the co-managing director.

The hotel authorities feel that the casino will be able to attract more visitors to the state.

“Earlier, there were only few good hotels in Gangtok but today there are hundreds of hotels as Sikkim is witnessing a tourism boom. With the addition of casinos, Sikkim now offers more for high-end tourists who want to see the mountains and also entertain themselves in a casino. We are targeting people from the cities and those who go to Nepal just for gambling,” said Ladakhi.

The hotel authorities are of the opinion that the gambling stations would help create an all year round tourism season for the hill state.

“Once the airport at Pakyong in East Sikkim is ready in the next couple of years high- end tourism will take off in Sikkim and people will be flying in here to enjoy both nature and casinos. Sikkim will be the most sought after destination with its natural beauty, peace and entertainment avenues like casinos,” Ladakhi said.

The casino at Ranipool will be open from 4pm to 6am every day. There are plans to keep the facility open for 24 hours from August.

‘Mahzong’ on-shore live 'Casino' at Mayfair,Gangtok opens on June8

All casino aficionados in India who rued the lack of a live casino in the country and had to travel to destinations like Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau or Kathmandu for that thrill of ‘live gaming’ now have a reason to cheer. A full-fledged on-shore casino, the first of its kind in the country, is coming up at Mayfair-Gangtok, a five-star deluxe property spread over 48 acres and owned by the Orissa-based Mayfair Hotels & Resorts
The company is going for soft launch of the casino at Gangtok on June 8, something which the hotel chain’s founder chairman Dilip Ray calls ‘’dream come true’’.

“We have got the license to operate the first full-scale, regular and live casino in the country at our Gangtok property. On June 8, we are doing a soft opening of the casino while the grand opening is slated for June 24”, says Ray.

Christened ‘Mahzong’ (Chinese term for gambling), Ray expects, the casino to pull a substantial outbound casino traffic from the country and also draw gaming lovers from Goa. However, he did not share his business expectations from the casino, saying it is pre-mature at this stage to talk of numbers.

“There are a lot of players in the country and there is a great deal of potential. The poker game is really catching up. A lot of Indians from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and some from Kolkata visit Kathmandu for that live gaming experience. But no study has been done yet on the casino industry in the country”, said he.
Though the casino industry has been somewhat thriving in Goa, yet there was no scope for live gaming as yet. Players had to go off shore in Goa and then indulge themselves in casino and that too, play only electronic games, Ray claimed. “We are going to ask for a Casino license in Goa as well”, he said.

It may be noted that the Public Gambling Act of 1867, a Central legislation which prohibits public gambling, applies to all states barring Goa and Sikkim which have their own laws that permit gambling.

In Goa, an amendment created to the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976 allows casinos to be set up only at five star hotels or offshore vessels with the prior permission of the government.

On the other hand, in Sikkim, the Sikkim Casino Games (Control and Tax Rules), 2002 gives discretion to the Sikkim government to grant licenses to individuals or establishments for setting up casinos.

The Sikkim Regulation of Gambling (Amendment) Act, 2005 also gives the government discretionary powers to authorize gambling either on certain days or to certain gambling houses by grant of license.

Initially, the casino at Mayfair-Gangtok will operate on a makeshift basis from the hotel’s conference hall with a built-up area of around 1000 sq ft. But later it will move to a 30,000 sq ft space reserved for the purpose within the premises. The casino will occupy three to four floors and will operate from 4 pm to 6 am.

The casino will have an almost entire gamut of live games- roulette, black jack, baccarat, kitty, mini flush and poker. Players will be charged an entry fee of Rs 500 and there are 150 dealers at the casino. Food, drinks and entertainment will be offered as complementaries to the participants.

“The games will be played at the gaming table and 150 dealers (casino staff) will be there to assist the gamblers. In order to avoid fraudulent practices, CCTV cameras have been installed and dealers will be changing in every twenty minutes”, Ray said.

Ray also plans to put up a shopping arcade at the casino after a year of its functioning.

He is also betting big on the casino business and expects Gangtok to be one of the sought after casino hubs in the world as the city is expected to get an airport within a year.

For the kin accompanying casino lovers, there would be a separate entertainment zone with a dedicated troupe of singers and dancers and this has been planned out on the lines of Kathmandu casinos

Casino Sikkim to co-sponsor of United Sikkim Football Club

Gangtok- Casino Sikkim and The Royal Plaza announced their association as co-sponsor of United Sikkim Football Club for the round II of second division I-league.

After thrilling performance in first round of second division I-league, United Sikkim Football Club consummates another achievement. Club has entered in a partnership with Casino Sikkim and The Royal Plaza Hotel, owned by a businessman Naresh Subba.

In a press conference Mr. Subba said “We are glad to announce our association with USFC as co-sponsor of the club. Bhaichung Bhutia is our role model and hero of our state and the country. We as an enterprise would like to honor their initiative and also assure them our full support in their endeavor to become number 1 football club in the country”.

USFC is in Gangtok for their practice session and is scheduled to leave for Shillong on 24th April. The round II will be challenging as USFC would be playing against the home teams in Shillong.

Bhaichung on their partnership with Casino Sikkim said “USFC is thankful to Casino Sikkim for extending their support and as a club we are happy to be associated with them. We have lot of dreams and I am sure we will achieve together”.


BaichungBhaichung presenting jersey to Tara and Naresh Subba

At present the tie up of USFC with Casino Sikkim and The Royal plaza is purely financial and is for round II only. Bhaichung added that “we would like to have a long term relationship but for that we will look after a month only”. Bhaichung also feels that his injury will not impinge on performance of the team. He has played only few matches and squad has done really well in his absence. The last 6 matches were very crucial and team performed well. The side is looking more confident and determined to win with both experience and young players on their side.

Bhaichung also revelaed that team was astonished with overwhelming reception they received on their arrival in Rangpo. “Players especially the foreign players were mesmerized with the warm welcome given the fact that we just qualified for the second round”.

He thanked all the people of Sikkim for support and requested them to cheer boys whenever they play. Mr. Subba also urged local business enterprises to set in and support club financially and in sprit

Sikkim Casino YouTube Video

Gangtok casino gets the dice rolling for India

Casino Sikkim

Venue: The Royal Plaza

Timings: 6 pm to 4 am
Games: 10 slot machines
2 Roulette tables
1 Flush table
1 Baccarat table

1 Blackjack table

Age limit: 18 years and above
Hawk eye: Specialized team from Nepal

Take a bow, Nepal. Step aside, Goa. Make away for the new royal player.

Sikkim few  months ago became the first and only State in the entire length and breadth of the nation when Ex-State tourism minister RB Subba set the roulette rolling from the ‘Casino Sikkim’ at The Royal Plaza here today evening adding yet another ‘first’ to the glittering tourism crown of Sikkim.

This ‘first’ is Sikkim now officially rounding off a slew of national tourism awards with ‘the first land based live casino’ in the entire length of breadth of the nation.

During this momentous step towards attracting ‘high rollers’ to Sikkim, the tourism minister said that the casino at The Royal Plaza should have its impact in promoting high-end tourists.

Mr. Subba reminded that there has been an annual increase of 20 percent in the inflow of tourists to Sikkim in the recent years.

And of course, there are other players more waiting on the wings for casino business in the State. Seven applications for opening up casinos are pending with the State government, Mr. Subba said after making a brief tour of the casino hall of The Royal Plaza.

Former Chief Minister SM Limboo was also present during the opening ceremony.

“It was soft opening. They invested Rs. 30 crores more to have a full-fledged casino in a bigger room in the next 3 months”,
“I am really looking forward to attract high rolling clients and that will depend in the Pakyong airport whose Bhoomi puja had been done yesterday. The airport is scheduled to be completed by two years which is ample time for me to market my casino”, said Naresh Subba, director of The Royal Plaza, a part of the Teesta Rangit group.

The director said Rs. 70 crores would be invested to expand The Royal Plaza, which has presently 60 rooms. I am adding 40 more rooms with other amenities like swimming polls and indoor movie hall, he said.

Presently the casino has ten slot machines, two roulette tables, one blackjack table, one baccarat table and a flush table manned and operated by a specialized and experienced team from Nepal. The casino is open daily from 6 pm to 4 am.

The Teesta Rangit Private Ltd has tied up Kishore Silwal who runs 3 casinos in Nepal for technical tie up for the Casino Sikkim.

Expectedly, the tables and machines were packed with enthusiastic players, many of whom were first timers.

It may be recalled that the State government on November 13 last year had authorized Teesta Rangit Private Ltd for installation and operation of casino games at the premises of its luxury hotel, The Royal Plaza.

The permission granted by the State government is a provisional license that enables the Royal Plaza to run casino till it is fully classified as a five star hotel by the Ministry of Tourism.

Original license will be issued to Royal Plaza only after it fulfils the norms of a five star hotel within 5 years as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Tourism.

The Sikkim government had set the dice rolling when it notified the Sikkim Casino Games (Control and Taxes) Rules, 2007 thereby inviting interested parties for setting up casinos in the State.

Till this period, only Goa had allowed casinos in India that too electronically controlled.

The objective of the State government was to attract high end domestic and foreign tourists with the casino bid which had already created ripples in the hospitality sector both national and internationally.

Apart from carving a niche for itself as a major tourism player, Sikkim government stands to gain with an amount of Rs. 1.5 crores which will be paid by The Royal Plaza as taxes in the next 5 years