India’s Delta Corp Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Lavish Casino Cruise

At the weekend, Indian gaming and hospitality company Delta Corp Limited celebrated its tenth anniversary by hosting a three day gala event on board one of its casino cruise ships in Goa. The celebrations included plenty of poker action, and was attended by numerous Bollywood actors, as well as some of India’s top high stakes players. Commenting upon the proceedings, Delta Corp Head of Poker Manish Adnani stated:

“I am very humbled to celebrate this moment with Delta Corp. I remember playing the first game hosted by Casino Royale back in 2008, and since then poker has aggressively been promoted by Delta Corp Ltd and is growing at a fast pace in the sub-continent.”

Who Is Delta Corp Ltd?

Delta Corp Ltd, India’s only public listed gaming company, runs casinos in three states, namely Goa, Daman and Sikkim. Its strongest presence, however, is in Goa where it owns a number of casinos, including Deltin JAQK, Deltin Caravela and Deltin Suites. It also owns three offshore casino licenses, with the Deltin Royale being its casino cruise flagship.

10th Anniversary

Delta Corp celebrated a decade in business by organizing various festivities onboard the Deltin Royale from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. This included performances from numerous playback singers, or singers who records songs mimed by film actors, such as Shraddha Pandit, Neeti Mohan, Pinky Maidasani and Shilipi Paul. Also in attendance were a variety of other celebrities, including Brazilian actress Bruna Abdullah and model Shazahn Padamsee.

One of the star attractions, however, was poker professional Patrik Antonius, a Finnish high stakes cash game player who also tops the country’s ‘All Time Money List’ with $11,781,679 in live tournament winnings. During the three day extravaganza, Antonius showcased his poker skills, while also interacting with the other high rollers and poker players taking part in the various gaming events. Commenting upon having one of poker’s most successful players at the lavish celebration, Manish Adnani, said:

“We are pleased to have Patrik Antonius commemorate our tenth anniversary and enjoy the festivities with the community.”

Online Poker Growing in India

The Indian live poker scene may have experienced some legal setbacks over the years, but online platforms have continued to thrive. One just has to look at the recent festivities organized by Delta Corp to appreciate the increasing growth and development of online poker in India.

India is also the world’s seventh biggest economy, and with a population of 1.3 billion people has the potential to become one of the industry’s most lucrative gambling markets. This has naturally attracted the attention of some of the world’s most recognizable gaming brands, including PokerStars which after partnering with India-based lottery conglomerate Sugal & Damani entered the market in April.

Meanwhile, Adda52, India’s largest online poker site, recruited Jamaican cricket hero Chris Gayle this summer as a brand ambassador, with the company’s co-founder Mohit Agarwal explaining that the cricketer’s endorsement will help improve the game’s awareness on the sub-continent. Elaborating further, Agarwal commented:

“The digital payment infrastructure in the country is superb. Once the advertising framework for real money gaming matures, the business should see significant growth.”

Online Poker Mergers Increasing

A gap is opening up between the country’s top-tier online operators and their smaller counterparts, which has fueled a series of consolidation among smaller entities looking to stay competitive in the field. Recently, Hippo52.com and PokerHigh, for instance, decided to merge their businesses, with Managing Director of PokerHigh, Mithun Rebello, explaining that consolidation was “a natural next step for the industry.” In the long run, this can only help the country’s legion of poker players, who should be able to benefit from a greater offering of crossover promotions, as well as innovative product developments.

India’s maturing poker market is further exemplified by the country hosting it’s own poker awards ceremony. This year’s India Poker Championship Awards took place last Sunday at the Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai, India’s largest city with a population of 18.5 million people.