PANAJI : Punjab may well become the third state to throw open its doors to casinos. In Goa to attend a strategy meet, leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine went about scouting for details about the flourishing casino business in this state that attracts one of the largest numbers of domestic and foreign tourists.

Punjab’s ministers and the ruling coalition’s legislators, who have converged here for the ‘chintan shivir’, visited Casino Pride, one of the biggest offshore casinos in Goa. But interestingly, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal decided to stay away at the last moment. “Perhaps, they (CM and deputy CM) did not want any negative publicity,” a Goa police officer told TOI at the entrance of the casino after receiving a wireless message.

The leaders from Punjab spent nearly three hours on board the casino vessel over the Mandovi river. “There were 107 delegates who visited the casino floor in batches to understand the business. The working of the slot machines, and the games of baccarat (one of the card game), black jack (card game) and palsai (card game) were explained to the SAD-BJP members,” sources told TOI.

Casino pride’s group director Shrinivas Nayak said Goa’s 20-year-old casino industry has been successful in terms of tourism promotion and employment generation besides augmenting the state’s revenue. “As such other states want to follow the Goa model and Punjab is seriously studying the subject,” he said, adding that Sikkim had already followed suit.

Last year, TOI had reported about Sukhbir Badal’s plans to open a casino in Punjab. He had sent a three-member team to Goa to study the process of setting up casinos. The casino was being planned near Ludhiana.