The Supreme Court’s verdict – the way to renew the casino and collect royalty has been cleared

KATHMANDU-The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court has made an important decision regarding the operation of casinos. The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday put an end to the long-standing dispute over the operation of casinos.

Along with this, the way has been opened for the government to collect royalty and renewal fee from the casino operator. The casino operators have to operate the casino according to the “Casino Regulations” introduced by the government in 2070.

According to the regulations, the casino had to pay an annual royalty of 40 million rupees and license and renewal fee of 25 million rupees before the beginning of the financial year.

Dabur Nepal
Mini casinos had to pay an annual royalty of Rs 10 million and an equivalent amount of license and renewal fees. Apart from that, there was a provision that casinos should be operated within five kilometers of the international border.

However, Nepali casino businessmen operated casinos closer to the Nepal-India border than five kilometers away. As soon as the regulations were made, some casino entrepreneurs approached the Supreme Court in 2070 BS with a writ petition demanding that casinos operating within five kilometers be allowed to operate as they are.

The constitutional bench of Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut, Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Hari Prasad Phuyal, Manoj Kumar Sharma and Nahakul Subedi, while hearing the final verdict on the same writ petition, dismissed the writ petition. The full text of the verdict is yet to be released.

Most of the Nepali casino entrepreneurs had operated casinos in areas bordering India. Due to this, Indian citizens who work for normal wages used to enter casinos easily.

The police claimed that security challenges have also increased due to the casinos opened in the border area as large amounts of money are lost in casinos. Nepalis have been banned from entering.

With the decision of the Supreme Court, now the casino businessmen who are within a distance of five kilometers will only be allowed to operate within that distance.