Kathmandu, July 16: The inspection team of the Department of Tourism (DoT) has started monitoring the condition of various casinos operative in the country. According to DoT, the study of casinos being operated in all the star-hotels in Nepal would be conducted and their renewal would be done accordingly. Big casinos should pay Rs 40 million while mini-casinos should pay Rs 10 million in revenue annually for renewable.
There are altogether 20 casinos, both small and big, in Nepal. Small casinos were waiting for the verdict from Supreme Court to operate. In the first phase on inspection, four casinos were monitored. They were Casino Anna, Casino Mahjong, Casino Hyatt and Belliz Casino in Malla Hotel, informed DoT Director-General Danduraj Ghimire.
Ghimire informed that casinos are the second biggest revenue generators in the tourism sector after the Everest expedition. The Department of Tourism had collected Rs 1.2 billion in revenue from casino, permit the issue of various mountains including Everest and the like in the last fiscal year.
A five-member team chaired by Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ghanashyam Upadhyay was formed for the inspection of casinos. The other members of the team were Director-General of DoT, Danduraj Ghimire, DoT’s Meera Acharya, Homestay Department’s Chief and HAAN’s representative. RSS
