Sri Lanka PM says no new casinos: reports

Jul 21, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, says no investors will be allowed to set up new casinos in that country, report several Sri Lankan media outlets.

The first minister is said to have made the comment while participating in the International Enterprise Singapore Global Conversations – a forum for business – held in Singapore on Tuesday.

According to media reports, it was in response to a question from a businessman attending the forum.

“No investor would be provided space to begin the casino industry within Sri Lanka,” the Prime Minister was reported saying, referring to new ventures.

Australian gaming operator Crown Resorts Ltd, had previously proposed spending US$400 million for a casino resort in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo (pictured).

But in December 2014, Reuters news agency reported that the country’s new president, Maithripala Sirisena had pledged in his manifesto to cancel a casino licence said to have been promised to Crown Resorts by the previous administration.

In January 2015 it was reported that the newly-installed government had decided to block three major casino projects in the South Asian island-nation that had been given the go-ahead by the previous government.

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