Nepal's Casino Crisis

Thousands of casino employees have taken to the streets of Kathmandu in recent weeks to protest what they see as a war on their livelihood.

“The government is now all out to destroy the casino industry,” Rajen Chetri, one of the protesting employees, told the Hindustan Times.

The cause for this most recent round of protests was the arrest of the GM of Casino Anna, Ram Krishna Chakradhar, on the first Saturday in November. That arrest was related to the incident on October 24 that started the chain of events.

On October 24, the casino in the luxury hotel Annapurna was entered by a half-dozen plain-clothes police, who reportedly forced their way in, looking for locals playing illegally at the casino. NepalÆs casinos are restricted to non-residents.

The police and casino staff got into “heated arguments,” according to a report on ZeeNews, and riot police then were rushed into the casino and began beating employees. At least two dozen staff members were reported injured and eight vehicles damaged by the police action. Five or six police were also injured in the fight.

The following day, over 6,000 employees from the cityÆs seven casinos hit the streets in protest. Several hundred of them staged a sit-in and handed a written complaint to Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam.

Gautam had earlier said that casinos are allowing Nepal nationals to gamble, and accused the casinos of “promoting hooliganism and illegal business.”

“We will not allow any Nepalese national into the casino; if we find any Nepalese playing in the
While awaiting release after his arrest for interrogation, Chakradhar called for casino workers to end their protests scheduled for Sunday afternoon.