Delta Corp. to invest in Sikkim
The government of Maharashtra last week met to consider long-suspended legislation that would legalize casino gaming in the Indian state.
Presently, only Goa, Daman and Sikkim have legal gaming. But last year, law student Jay Satya discovered a law had passed in Maharashtra in 1976 making it legal to operate casinos. The law was never notified or fully enacted.
When the oversight was discovered, the Mumbai High Court directed the state government “to decide within reasonable time on the issue of implementation of the act, particularly since the legislation was enacted almost 40 years ago.” It also ordered officials to locate potential casino sites.
According to DNA India, Satya—now a practicing attorney—was invited to attend the meeting. He recently said, “The government has to implement laws framed by the legislature and has no discretion on whether or not to implement it. The government has to either decide to notify and enforce the law or repeal the legislation. It cannot keep the legislation in cold storage or abeyance forever. It has to take a decision one way or the other and inform the people of the state.”
India’s Union Minister of Shipping & Transport Nitin Gadkari has promised to fight any effort to bring casinos to the country. “We oppose things like casinos, and I will not give permission for that,” Gadkari said recently. “People will also not tolerate such things. Entertainment facilities are welcome on the islands, but definitely not casinos.”
The state of Sikkim, meanwhile, is open to an expansion of its gaming industry. According to the Asia Gaming Brief, India-based gaming operator Delta Corp. plans a new casino in the state in northwest India. Its casino in Gangtok at the hotel WelcomHeritage Denzong Regency will join two casinos now operating in the region, Casino Mahjong and Casino Sikkim.
Delta currently operates two offshore casinos and a land-based casino in Goa and is awaiting an offshore license in Daman. “Sikkim may become the preferred location for the gaming industry, overtaking Goa, where the casino industry has been reeling,” Sayta told AGB.
