India’s only listed hospitality and gaming company, Delta Corp, saw a drop in its share price after yesterday’s decision by the GST Council to levy a 28% tax on online gaming, casinos and horse racing at full face value.

Delta Corp currently operates as Deltin and has three casinos in Goa – Deltin Royale, Deltin JAQK and Deltin Caravela. Along with that, the company is also planning a new integrated township project in Goa that recently got a nod from the state government and is pending review from Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (Goa-SEIAA).

It is currently unclear if the changes in the tax regime will cause any delay or if the project will continue in its project plan.

The decision sparked a huge debate in the online real money gaming industry, with industry leaders criticising the move calling it not in line with international standards. It is believed that India is one of the few countries to levy GST at full face value.

Further, disruption in the stocks of gaming companies is also expected. Most recently, shares of Nazara Technologies also tanked. The company have since issued a statement reassuring that real money gaming only accounts for 5.2% of its revenue and thus will not have any huge impact on its workings.

For other gaming companies based majorly around real money gaming the impact is not yet clear, especially for startups. Further development in this regard might surface soon.

The recent increase in revenue after IPL 2023 raised expectations of exponential growth in future but with the new changes, the overall growth might be low. The companies have dubbed this as the ‘death of online gaming’, claiming that while established companies will push through, small startups will have difficulty surviving.