At Captain of Port jetty in the heart of the state capital Panaji, which the evening hours to midnight has flurry of activity with high end and tourist cars plying patrons to the offshore casinos, for the last couple of days dons a deserted look. Casino operators say that since Prime Minister Narendra Modis announcement on Wednesday over the withdrawal of Rs. 500/Rs.1000 as a method to combat black-money, corruption, terror-financing and counterfeit notes the operation of the betting houses have hit a dead-end. All our businesses have closed-down. We have no money (in cash) to pay people and vice versa, an owner one of the popular casinos on Mandovi river says.

While ruing that less than five percent of the patrons may have visited among the 11 operational onshore/offshore casinos in the last two days, the owners of the entertainment and leisure industry, that operates almost everyday, say that they will be waiting and watching for the next two to three days for the things to turn around for their business during the tourist season.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, while saying that the cash-crunch was felt across the country, and not only for the tourism sector in the state, assured that the local banks will receive sufficient funds by Saturday afternoon and things would subsequently normalise.