A writ petition filed by a Delta group entity seeking issuance of a casino licence by the Daman and Diu administration under Section 13A of the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, 1976 will come up for a final hearing on September 8, 2023 before the Bombay High Court. Delta Corp is the country’s only listed casino operator.

A subsidiary of Delta Corp’s started a five star resort ‘The Deltin’ in Daman a decade back and the proposed licence is for the same. Delta approached the High Court in 2018 after the administration did not respond to the licence application made in 2014.

The petition names U.T. Administration of Daman and Diu, Administrator of the U.T of Daman and Diu and Director of Tourism, U.T. Administration of Daman and Diu as the respondents.

Deltin Group currently has two offshore casinos and one 5-star hotel with a land-based casino in Goa and one land-based casino each in Sikkim and Nepal.

Last year, a fake news went viral on social media that Delta group received the long-awaited approval for the operation of electronic amusement and slot machines in Daman and Diu leading to share manipulation. Delta later denied the reports of approval.

In a related news, Delta Corp Limited recently received the environment clearance from the Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for their Rs 3000 crore casino-integrated township project at Dhargalim, Pernem.

The project was approved by the state government in October last year, subsequently requiring the SEIAA’s approval. For the purpose, the project was recommended to SEIAA by the Goa State Expert Appraisal Committee in June this year.