Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming MAY 2015 58 Feature Sri Lanka’s casinos are operating in a decidedly hostile environment under the new administration of President Mithripala Sirisena Fallen Out of Favor H igh hopes for Sri Lanka’s casino industry at the end of last year were dashed following the surprise result of the 8th January presidential election, which saw Mahinda Rajapaksa defeated by Mithripala Sirisena, who previously had served as Mr Rajapaksa’s health minister before quitting abruptly to run against him just two months before the vote. Mr Rajapaksa, who governed the country virtually unopposed for 10 years, supported gaming expansion as a means of boosting the island nation’s economy through increased tourism and foreign investment. However, the plan was never popular with influential religious leaders of the country’s Buddhist-Sinhalese majority and was criticized heavily both by opposition parties and segments of Mr Rajapaksa’s own coalition partners, who feared the industry would undermine traditional values and lead to a variety of social ills. Among Mr Sirisena’s campaign promises was the cancellation of the previous administration’s approval of casinos at three resorts planned for the capital of Colombo—a promise he fulfilled immediately after coming to power. The casinos canceled include one slated for a US$400 million resort planned by Australia’s Crown Resorts in the capital’s popular tourist core, prompting Crown to scrap the entire project. Casinos are also gone from a $300 million resort proposal called Queensbury, backed by local company Vallibel One, which owns three of Sri Lanka’s four existing officially sanctioned casinos, and an $850 million resort called Water Front Properties proposed by hospitality giant John Keells Holdings, the country’s largest publicly traded company. President Mithripala Sirisena Sri Lanka’s government is moving ahead with the imposition of a US$100 casino entry levy, which, unlike Singapore’s S$100 (US$73) levy, would apply to foreigners as well as locals.