Delta Corp Ltd, India’s largest casino operator, has put a temporary hold on its proposed integrated resort-cum-casino township in Goa as the GST Council decided to raise the tax rate on casinos to 40 percent under the GST 2.0 framework, reported Times of India. The company had planned to invest between ₹2,000 and ₹2,500 crore in the project at Dhargal, near the Manohar International Airport at Mopa.

Chairman Jaydev Mody said the increase from the existing 28 percent to 40 percent renders the business model unviable. “The 40 percent GST will make the entire sector unviable. It will affect thousands of jobs, affect visitation to the state, will negatively affect revenue collection and make redundant all the capex that has been incurred by the industry,” he was quoted by Times of India. Mody added that Delta had planned a resort that would have been the first of its kind in India, expected to generate 10,000 direct jobs, but the plan has been temporarily shelved until clarity emerges on implementation.

Spread over 90 acres, the project was initially scheduled for completion in 2027. A public interest litigation related to the development is pending before the Bombay High Court at Goa.

Delta Corp already operates casinos in Goa and Sikkim, which remain a tightly regulated niche within India’s wider gaming sector. The company’s decision highlights the uncertainty created in the wider gaming ecosystem by back-to-back regulatory changes, with the higher GST burden on casinos coming soon after the Centre banned all forms of real money online gaming through the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025.

Industry analysts said the hike in GST on casinos, coupled with the outright ban on online money gaming, could alter the investment landscape in gaming and hospitality. Few also note that casinos may be benefited by shut down of online money gaming portals. 

For Goa, which relies significantly on casino tourism, the shelving of Delta’s flagship project may also dampen prospects for new large-scale developments in the near term.

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