The tiny Daman territory on the west coast of India is set to become India’s newest community to host a casino. The property, Thunderbird Resorts Daman, is a collaboration between international hotel and casino operator Thunderbird Resorts and local partner Daman Funcity Pvt. Ltd.

The resort will feature 159 rooms and 16 suites. The 75,000 square-foot Jackpot! Casino will have slots and familiar table games casino, plus VIP gaming facilities in the private enclosure Velvet. It will be the first casino to open in the former Portuguese enclave.

Industry news organ Gambling Compliance reported that the hotel was set to open the first of its rooms in the third week of October. A soft opening of the casino’s 25 tables and 400 slots is to follow in the next three months.

Daman is situated about 180 kilometers north of Mumbai and 700 kilometers north of Goa, home to India’s primary casino gaming industry. Goa however offers only shipboard casinos and electronic casinos in land-based hotels. The only other casino resort in India is in the far northeastern territory of Sikkim.

Thunderbird, an experienced operator with casinos in Latin America and the Philippines, would most likely be operating the casino itself if rules allowed. However, under existing legislation, the owner of a resort cannot also operate the casino. Hence the need for local partner Daman Funcity.

Thunderbird CEO Jack Mitchell told Gambling Compliance, “When you have many millions in the middle class and those income levels are growing rapidly, India is obviously a huge market.”

The company intends to serve the local market. The IMF is forecasting Indian GDP growth of 9.7 percent for 2010 and 8.4 percent in 2011.  Despite what Mitchell sees as a “conservative” populous, he believes the demonstrated willingness to illegally bet on cricket matches indicates a desire to get involved.

The Gambling Compliance report also noted that Indians are now traveling outside the country to gamble at casinos in Nepal, Sri Lanka and that other former Portuguese enclave, Macau. Delta Corp., which operates three casino ships in Goa, estimates that Indians account for 70 percent of visitors to the casinos in neighboring Nepal. Sands China says Macau saw a 78 percent increase in visitors from India in the first half of 2010.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.