Union Gaming sees Delta thriving on land in Goa

The Asian brokerage expects Delta Corp’s GGR to rise once it moves its operations to land, following local regulatory changes.

India.- Floating casinos in the Mandovi river are set to move onshore in Goa after the local government announced regulatory changes for the industry. However, Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd expects the measure to be far from harmful, at least for Delta Corp Ltd, which may see its gross gaming revenue rise after it moves to land.

“We believe the introduction of high-quality integrated resort (IR) supply will firmly put India on the gaming map and (eventually) become one of the crown jewels of Asia,” Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen said in a note and added: “Importantly, the government intends to issue IR licences only to those holding existing offshore licences. Delta holds three of these licences, while two are owned by another company, and a sixth has never launched operations…”

Furthermore, Mr Govertsen explained that Delta has a major advantage over the competition as it already purchased a large site near the soon-to-open new airport and is working with a gaming architect to develop an IR.

According to the brokerage, the company will experience a major growth after moving to land, similar to what happened with an Illinois riverboat became a land-based casino, which saw a 25 per cent GGR increase in the year 2000.