Already planning Phase II
Revenue officers in Nepal raided the gaming hall at the new Tiger Palace Casino Resort following reports that it was peddling alcoholic beverages without a license.
Arjun Pathak, tax officer at the Inland Revenue Office, said the property was repeatedly informed it needed a license to sell alcoholic drinks. “But it did not follow our instruction,” he told the Kathmandu Post.
The IRO team along with police seized 121 bottles of liquor worth Rs300,000 (US$4,600) from the casino. The resort itself, exclusive of the casino, is licensed to dispense and sell alcohol. “The casino was found selling alcoholic beverage bought for the resort,” said Pathak.
The property, called the largest casino resort in South Asia, is operated by Hong Kong-based Silver Heritage Group, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Built at a cost of Rs5.2 billion (US$79.7 million), it opened March 17 and hopes to draw residents of the heavily populated Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Illegal booze is not Silver Heritage’s only problem. It remains embroiled in a legal battle in Nepal after it removed its local partner, who was overseeing implementation of the casino project in Bhairahawa. According to Asia Gaming Brief, Silver Heritage said it’s confident that a consultancy agreement with the former partner, Rajendra Bajgain, was properly terminated.
A Nepal court granted Bajgain a temporary stay of the termination pending a hearing, but Silver Heritage stated that it will “ultimately prevail when substantive issues are ventilated before the court.” Bajgain’s consultancy was terminated after he accused the company of illegally employing foreign workers. He told local outlet My Republica that he had been consistently lobbying for the recruitment of only Nepali citizens at the casino, which were rejected by senior management. Bajgain is also a 5 percent owner of a local entity that holds the gaming license for Tiger Palace.
The property is a Phase II expansion that could add between 100 and 300 hotel rooms, banquet and wedding centers, meeting and convention space and a larger gaming floor.
“This is truly a one-of-a-kind property unlike anything in either Goa or Sikkim, the two states in India with licensed live table casino gaming,” said Silver Heritage Managing Director and CEO Mike Bolsover.
