The Nepal government says the casinos that were shut down this spring in a licensing and tax dispute will be allowed to reopen.
“Protecting jobs is as important as creating them,” said Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat, who disclosed that talks are under way with casino operators, workers’ unions and other stakeholders to bring the casinos back into operation.
The ministry declared the casinos illegal back in April on the grounds that none of them had paid back-due royalties and therefore had not been qualified for operating licenses by the prescribed deadline.
Operators said the fee was too high for them to be profitable, and the government has responded by cutting it to 30 million Nepal rupees a year (US$308,809) from 40 million and also has cut the fee for electronic gaming to NPR20 million from 30 million.
“As the government is positive on reopening the casinos and operating them legally, we are discussing various measures to make the new regulation flexible,” said Madhusudan Burlakoti, chief of the ministry’s Industry Division, which issues the licenses.
