Australian gaming mogul quits Sri Lanka after casino ban

COLOMBO: Australian gaming mogul James Packer’s Crown Group said Friday it has scrapped plans for a $350-million resort in Sri Lanka after the new government banned casinos
and axed tax breaks for the project.
Packer had been planning the 450-room luxury resort after the previous regime offered the tax concessions in efforts to turn the Sri Lankan capital Colombo into a regional gaming hub.
But President Maithripala Sirisena’s government on Thursday canceled the concessions and said it would not allow casinos in the resort after opposition from Sri Lanka’s influential Buddhist monks.
“Crown Resorts respects the government’s decision and on that basis the project would not be going ahead,” a Crown spokesperson told AFP.
The company had not begun construction although regulatory approvals were granted in December 2013.
President Sirisena, who swept to victory in Jan. 8 elections backed by the country’s main party of monks, pledged to end the tax breaks during his campaign.
The previous government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa had introduced concessions, including a five percent rate for gambling operators, in a bid to boost tourism numbers.
Another casino resort approved at the same time, a $650-million development by local conglomerate John Keells Holdings, is still going ahead — but without the casino.
John Keells said in a stock exchange filing Friday that the resort project was still viable without the casino.
The future of the third project, a $300-million resort by local businessman Dhammika Perera, who has sought overseas funding, was unclear.
Several local, low-key casinos have been in operation for decades, exploiting loopholes in a law that bans such gaming operations.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said on Thursday he would give those existing casinos, thought to number about five, a deadline of mid April to pay a flat fee of one billion rupees ($7.6 million) to remain in business.