New Sri Lanka government blocks three casinos, including one by James Packer's Crown Resorts
Sri Lanka's new government has blocked three casinos approved by the previous administration, among them a US$400 million project by Australian gaming mogul James Packer's Crown Resorts.
The widely expected move redeems an election pledge by new President Maithripala Sirisena to cancel the Crown Resorts licence. Sirisena won a January 8 poll, ending a decade of authoritarian rule by Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The casinos were opposed by Buddhist leaders and some of Rajapaksa's own coalition partners, who feared that gaming could lead to a boom in prostitution and damage values and culture in the mainly Buddhist nation.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said gazette notices that gave tax concessions to the projects had been amended.
"We have decided to ban such approval for casinos," he told parliament. "But they can conduct all other activities," he added, referring to planned hotel and residential apartments.
Besides Lake Leisure, Packer's Sri Lankan joint venture, the blocked projects are the US$300 million Queensbury resort planned by Sri Lanka's Vallibel One and the US$850 million Water Front Properties of John Keells Holdings, the country's biggest conglomerate.
Packer, one of Australia's richest men, got Sri Lankan cabinet approval for the project in 2013, but its terms were altered in the face of opposition and construction has yet to start.
All casino licences would be reviewed and gaming would be restricted to an as-yet undecided area in future, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.
Rajapaksa's government had said casinos would be restricted to D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha, an area in the commercial heart of the capital where Crown had planned its hotel.
