India’s largest and only publicly traded gaming and hospitality company has finally gotten Sikkim’s elusive yes to expand into the state.
Delta Corp announced that it had already secured the needed provisional license to operate a casino in the state’s Gangtok area under the Sikkim Casinos Control & Tax Act of 2002, GLaw.in reported.
The hospitality company announced back in April that it has partnered with Hotel WelcomHeritage Denzong Regency for the Sikkim venture. Under the partnership, the hotel will lease the gaming space to Delta Corp., which, in turn, will be “responsible for the day-to-day operations and management of the new casino.”
The gaming company told GLaw.in’s Jay Sayta that the casino is expected to be “casino ready” before the year ends, and “will offer approximately 150 gaming positions” in the new gambling establishment.
“The company is in the process of refurbishing and getting the premises ‘casino ready’ which should be completed in the next three months,” Delta Corp said in a statement.
Delta Corp’s new casino will join Sikkim’s two other existing casinos—Casino Mahjong in the Mayfair resort and Casino Sikkim in Hotel Royal Plaza.
Located in northwest India, the state of Sikkim is one of the three areas that allow live casinos to operate within its borders. The other two are Goa and Daman. Sikkim’s casinos, launched in 2009, had already caused a surge in tourism with an estimated 12,000 tourists visiting the state per year.
Aside from the Gangtok casino, Delta Corp also operates three offshore and one onshore casino in Goa. The company announced in June that the government of Goa has authorized its wholly owned subsidiary Delta Pleasure Cruise Company to operate MV Royale Flotel – Deltin Caravela on Mandovi River.
The announcement, however, drew flak from opposition politicians who pointed out that only three months had passed since the government issued the existing floating casinos a one-year window to find an alternate site that they will call home.
