PANAJI - Activists in Goa have urged the government to ban offshore and onshore casinos in the state - like Russia which outlawed gambling houses Wednesday.

Offshore and onshore casinos have been the subject of controversy over the past year after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and civil society groups vehemently opposed them on grounds of moral and socio-economic degradation.

“Not only are we demanding a total ban on all casinos in Goa, as the liberalised Russia has recently done, we are also demanding that the government compensate all Goans, who have lost their entire wealth in casinos and whose families are in ruins,” convenor of Aam Aurat Aadmi Against Gambling (AAAG) Sabina Martins told IANS Saturday.

“Russia Wednesday banned all casinos, including slot machines, as they adversely affected the society in terms of lawlessness, prostitution, illegal drug trade and had made many families paupers. We should also follow suit,” Martins said.

AAAG is in the process of collecting data on the number of families and individuals bankrupted by gambling in casinos.

Martins said that the Congress-led alliance government’s claim that the casinos boost tourism and generate revenue for the state was a sham.

“Even Tourism Minister Francisco Pacheco has claimed that he was cheated by casino operators. The casino lobby is now dictating terms to the government,” Martins said, referring to the stubborn refusal of the offshore casinos to move out of Mandovi river despite repeated orders from the state government.

The BJP, which for most part of the year had launched an agitation against casinos, has now quietly altered its pitch.

Party leaders now claim that while the offshore casinos were evil, the onshore ones were a ‘necessary evil’ needed to promote tourism.

Martins said that this was just the kind of double speak which was watering down the campaign against casinos.

“Strategically one group in political parties supports casinos and another group supports the people opposing the casinos so that they have best of both the worlds in terms of money and votes,” she said.