CNN Indonesia quotes the Head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Department, Tjokorda Bagus Pemayun, as rejecting suggestions that Bali should authorize the operation of international standard gambling casinos. Insisting Bali will only allow culturally-based tourism, casinos will continue to be barred from opening in Bali.
Explaining the opposition to casinos in Bali, Pemayun said: “Clearly, our tourism basis is cultural. As a result, the tourism that we develop is cultural tourism. It’s not a matter of rejection. We only want cultural tourism. Period, Right?” he said.
What’s more, Pemayun said that Indonesian law forbids casino operations.
In addition, he said the law also prohibits gambling, and that makes it impossible to build a casino in Bali.
Despite the legal challenges, Bali’s Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) chairman, Agung Bagus Pratiksa Linggih, and his associates are adamant in their lobbying efforts to create an international standard casino in Bali. The HIPMI Chairman defends his pro-casino stance on the basis that the revenues and taxes generated by casino operations would provide the funds needed to manage the Island’s growing mountains of trash. Linggih estimates a Bali Casion Operation would generate Rp. 4 trillion in taxes annually.
Linggih says: “A casino (in Bali) is urgently needed. The (estimated) tax revenue is around Rp 4 trillion, which is needed to address several problems. One of these problems is waste management, for which around Rp 3 trillion is needed to manage 100 percent of the waste produced in Bali.”
Comparing Bali to Singapore, the young businessman says there is a potential tax income of Rp. 12 to Rp 13 trillion per year. This high-income level does not include added income from hotels, restaurants, or income taxes casino workers pay.
Separately, CNBC Asia reports that the Indonesian Minister of Tourism and the Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, confirms no plans to build a casino in Bali. Echoing the Minister, Nia Niscaya, a lead official at the Ministry, confirms that establishing a casino in Indonesia is forbidden under national law.
Emphasizing the official stance, Nia Niscaya said Indonesia has zero tolerance for casino operations. In this regard, Indonesia is unlike the neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia, where casinos operate as tourist attractions.
In response, supporters of casino operations in Bali think special exemptions to the law should be established to allow casinos to open in Bali. The “pro-casino lobby” suggests that among the legal accommodations to Indonesian law could include rules forbidding Indonesians from entering casinos and reserving gambling dens only for foreign visitors.
The casino advocates have also proposed locating the casino in one of the more remote, impoverished areas of Bali to achieve a more equitable geographical spread of investment, away from the crowded southern areas of the Island.
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