The government of Fiji have set a deadline to the new venture of bringing the first casino to the small Pacific island nation. Indeed, interested parties have been given a November 30^th deadline to express their interest in developing and operating this new casino.

The announcement was made by Tourism and Trade Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, who said that the deadline was in place in order to make the quicken the process quicker and receive better results as well as giving an opportunity for Fijian governmental officials to have enough time to look at the track records of the potential partners in the project.

Not all Fijians are happy about the possibility of the introduction of gambling to the island. In fact, Fiji’s National Council of Women have fears related to the exploitation of women and children. These problems are not new in Fiji and the council fears that gambling will only make problems worse. “What I’m worried about is that with gambling comes other social ills,” said Fay Volatabu, the General Secretary of the National Council. The government also worries that the low income of the residents will be gambled away recklessly in the casino.

Khaiyum added that the tenders Board expected to be set up soon to scrutinize tenders will also be looking at the social impacts of the casino on the local community and would devise different laws to counteract these problems.

Sex tourism and gambling problems aside, the casino would definitely bring in revenue, which could help the development of this relatively poor nation. The government also stated that the revenue from such an enterprise could be used for infrastructure projects, education, improving the health facilities of the nation and last but not least, alleviate poverty.

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