SPiCE India 2023 was a thrilling event that ended on a high note with an action-packed final day. After two busy days of absorbing knowledge and networking, attendees still had the energy to solidify new deals and ideas.

As the new day broke across the stunning shoreline, the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa hummed with excitement and the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee, as attendees eagerly anticipated the start of Day Two at SPiCE India 2023.

As the sun rose on the exotic shores of Goa, preparations were well underway for the first day of SPiCE India 2023. There was a special energy in the air as the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa transformed into a bustling iGaming hub.

In just a week, leading iGaming executives and experts from around the world will converge in Goa, India to explore the vast, untapped opportunities the subcontinent has to offer.

Panaji: The Congress' Goa unit does not have a problem in opening up the state's coast to several more offshore casinos, as long as the vessels are berthed in the Arabian Sea, a party spokesperson Thursday said. Addressing a press conference, party spokesman Vishnu Wagh said that the Congress was for the offshore casino industry, as long as the common man was not affected.

Panaji: After dragging its feet for months, the Goa government has directed the state's six offshore casinos to suspend their operations on grounds of pollution and sealed restaurants on board five of them ahead of a Bombay High Court hearing on the issue. The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) Tuesday night directed the six offshore casinos to suspend their operations for violation of air and water pollution norms.

The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Goa government to freeze its directive to offshore casino operators to move outside the city limits and drop anchor in a nearby bay. The bench issued the directions Thursday after Hotel Leela Ventures Limited (HLVL), which operates Casino Rio, moved the court challenging a state cabinet decision taken Feb 26 to move the offshore casinos from Mandovi river to the Aguada bay some 3 km away.

Offshore casinos in Goa are committing 'gross violations' of the law, the state's Tourism minister Francisco Pacheco has said. The minister, better known as Mickky, warned that provisions of the Goa Tourism and Trade Act would be invoked if the casino operators did not clean up their act. 'First of all they have to be five nautical miles from the shore,' he told a local cable television channel Tuesday.

Calling them “dens of vice”, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to launch a campaign against casinos in the tourist hub of Goa this month. “We cannot protest in public as the code of conduct is on (with the by-election in Pale assembly constituency scheduled in November), but once the polls are over and done with we will make sure that casinos are thrown out of Goa,” leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar claimed.

Offshore Goa casinos, where punters love to push their luck, will not be spared from the ban on smoking in public places, an official said. Shekhar Salkar, Goa tobacco control cell in charge, told IANS the ban would be extended to the several offshore casinos which dot the Mandovi river that flows by state capital Panaji. "Casinos are also public places. They will not be spared. We will not allow smoking in casinos whether they are docked at the wharf or are floating offshore,"...

A bill seeking to restrict offshore casinos to the sea beyond five nautical miles from Goa’s coast was introduced in the Goa Assembly last week. It also specified that casinos should be operated only from maritime vessels. ’The Goa Public Gambling (Amendment) Bill, 2008’ introduced by the leader of the opposition, Manohar Parrikar during the slot for private members’ bills, sought to amend section 13A of the Goa Public Gambling Act, 1976.

With floating casinos proving to be a “vital cash-cow” for the state’s exchequer, the Goa government is all set to become a gambler’s paradise on the lines of Las Vegas. The state cabinet has agreed “in-principle” to award another five licenses to float offshore casinos. Currently, the state has two offshore casinos, while the third is expected to start operations this month. Following this significant development, the tourist state will now have a total of eight casinos floating on Goan waters.