While India's first regional online gambling licence award is imminent, the central government has issued a draft regulation bringing online lotteries under the purview of the national Lottery Act. This would authorise a state or the central government to ban a draw conducted by any other state in its territory.

Goa’s controversial offshore casinos have come under fire again, despite new figures showing the gaming trade is booming in the Indian state.

With an economy growing at 9.6 percent per year and a growing cadre of dollar millionaires, India is a juicy prize for the gaming industry. However, India’s central government has devolved gambling legislation to a state level, and there are no signs of a relaxation of the ban in 25 of its 28 states. In the three others, change is proving hard to negotiate.

Bowing to pressure from opposition groups, the Goan government has announced that it will appoint a ‘gaming commission’ to regulate gambling at the Indian state’s offshore casinos. The move comes as Goa's six casino operators saw their vessels shut down this week over environmental concerns.

Goa’s state cabinet has agreed to award a tranche of five licences to offshore casinos operating out of the Mandovi river area, raising the prospect of increased competition in a currently undersupplied but controversial market. However, a recent doubling of gaming taxes for operators in the state means that the government also stands to receive a significant revenue boost.

Casinos Austria International is mulling its withdrawal from India’s principal regulated casino market after authorities in Goa last week moved to suspend the majority of riverboat gaming operations in the state.

The first of Goa’s planned casino boats should be ready to start operations on Goa’s Mandovi River by late January, although whether they will be able to catch the end of Goa’s high season looks increasingly dependent on the whim of the regional government.

An opposition bill that would prohibit up-river casino cruises in Goa, India was rejected in the state’s parliament last week despite admissions from Goa’s Home Minister that existing legislation was lacking and hints that the Government planned to study the possibility of introducing further regulations itself.

The expressed desire of Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson to build a resort casino in India is unlikely to be realised within the foreseeable future, according to the country’s first licensed casino operator.

Beset by the global financial crisis and increasing competition in neighboring states, Mississippi posted the lowest state wide casino revenues since 1998.