Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant

PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that the state government would ban Goans from entering casinos from February 1, 2020 and the commissioner of commercial tax department would be appointed as the gaming commissioner.

Goa has a dozen of onshore and six offshore casinos operating in the state.

The home department has moved a file to chief minister for appointment of gaming commissioner, which is a long pending demand.

Speaking to mediapersons, Sawant said the state government had announced to ban Goans from entering casinos and the file had been moved accordingly.

“We are appointing commissioner of commercial tax department as the gaming commissioner and once he is appointed, Goans would be automatically banned from entering casinos. From February 1, gaming commissioner will stop Goans fromplace weeks after Sanders saw substantial losses to former Vice President Joe Biden on Super Tuesday. Sanders indicated on "The View" that he thought that was the result of some of his competitors dropping out of the race. Sanders had won or came in a close second in three of the early primary contests.

After South Carolina's primary, several prominent Democratic candidates -- including former Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. -- endorsed Biden for the Democratic nomination. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., often thought of as closely-aligned with Sanders, didn't drop out until after Super Tuesday.

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Sanders' presence in the race has raised concerns that he will unnecessarily prolong Democratic infighting at a time when the many in the party wanted