Delta Corp, India’s only listed gaming operator, says that the way that the nation’s Supreme Court is calculating the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for gaming operators is actually a “favorable outcome.”
India’s Supreme Court in May ruled that games of skill such as poker, fantasy sports and rummy constitute gambling, upholding a position that taxes should be paid retrospectively – including before the GST framework was updated in 2023 being applied to the full face value of bets rather than to gross gaming revenue.
Now, in a 28 May release, Delta Corp stated that, based upon “limited information” it had available regarding the pronouncement by the Supreme Court, “it is our understanding that the basis of computation of revenue … would accordingly not be on the amount of gross bet value of all games played during the relevant period … but would be on the amount received from players for the chips sold to them.”
The company highlighted that this method of calculation had been “adopted since October 2023” by Delta Corp, and “will be applicable retrospectively for the period between July 2017 to September 2023 as well.”
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Delta Corp in 2023 received a notice of tax liabilities from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence in Hyderabad on an alleged shortfall in tax amounting to Rs11,400 crore (US$1.34 billion) – roughly three times its total market cap.
The company explained that the figure was based on the estimated gross bet value of all games played at its casinos rather than on gross gaming revenue.
The group has already suspended construction of a US$285 million integrated resort project in Goa until it receives more clarity on the GST.
Delta Corp operates India’s two largest offshore casinos, Deltin Royale and Deltin JAQK, and the country’s only floating hotel with a casino, King Casino, all located in Goa. It also owns and operates the Deltin Suites in Goa and Casino Deltin Denzong in Sikkim, as well as the 176-room five-star hotel The Deltin in Daman. In FY23 it started operation of “Deltin Zuri” – which it describes as the only luxurious land-based casino in South Goa.
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