Sri Lanka is to increase taxes on casinos and gambling centres targeting additional revenue from new casinos that are to be set up in exclusive zones in Colombo and other major towns to lure high-end tourism to the country, official sources said.
According to the sources, two Singaporean parties, Malaysia's Genting Casino Group, US-based FEE Group which entered Sri Lanka in 2009 with a partnership with Ceylon Continental Hotel and India's Delta casino firm have expressed interest in opening high class casinos in the island.
The Inland Revenue Department has collected over Rs. 1.5 billion in tax revenue from casinos in six years up to 2011, a senior official of the department said.
The tax revenue earned by the government from 810 casinos, betting and gambling centres has been Rs 196.4 million in 2006, Rs 282 million in 2007, Rs 268 million in 2008, Rs 270 million in 2009 and Rs 295 million in 2010, and Rs.297 million in 2011.
The government is planning to swell its coffers, by imposing additional taxes on betting and gaming which is expected to become a money spinner with the country's plan of embarking on an ambitious tourist promotion programme targeting US$2 billion in tourism revenue with the expected 2.5 million tourists by 2016.
Sri Lanka opened its own first casinos in 1977, and bookies existed even before that.
Today there are 10 casinos in Colombo and 800 gambling centres around the country. The casinos had functioned under the provisions of the Gaming and Betting Act of 1988 and thereafter the Casino and Gambling Act of 2010 which came into force with effect from January 2012.
The new law that legalises casino gaming and betting on sports and horse racing and allows the establishment of special zones for gaming will make all unlicensed gaming and betting illegal after this year. |
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