Soon after President Maithripala Sirisena took power in Sri Lanka in January, his anti-gambling government imposed a new million fee on each of the nation’s four smaller casino operators. In November, the government doubled the annual casino levy from million to million and also imposed a 25 percent surtax on casino profits. Officials canceled the threatened but never enacted 0 casino entry fee.
Dhammika Perera, operator of the MGM Grand casino (no connection to the U.S. company), subsequently converted the facility to an art gallery, because, he said, he no longer could make a reasonable profit. He also cancelled plans for a $350 million casino resort in Colombo plus two other locations. Other operators also said they were considering permanently closing their casinos.
An Inland Revenue Department source said some Sri Lankan casinos made monthly profits of $1.5 million, so they could easily pay the new taxes. Recently Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said the government’s new fee structure was its way of “snubbing” casinos, “stemming this and not encouraging casinos in the country.”
