Sri Lanka Casino Bill Lacks Junket Regulations
Melco Resorts & Entertainment will open the casino at City of Dreams Sri Lanka this summer. As the country’s new gaming industry prepares to launch, lawmakers have compiled a draft regulatory bill that is notably free of regulations on VIP junkets.
Junkets serve VIPs by arranging luxury transportation and accommodations and issuing lines of credit for big-spending gamblers. The 48-page Sri Lanka Gambling Authority Act, published in May, outlines the process of licensing, taxing and monitoring junkets, but includes no regulations.
The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance questioned the omission, and the Sunday Times slammed lawmakers for producing a “drab regulatory regime [filled] with loopholes.” Editors said the bill opens the door to money laundering facilitated by junkets, some with “underworld links in casino centers such as Macau and Australia.”
In testimony last week, an officer with the Financial Intelligence Unit acknowledged, “At the moment, there is no mechanism to monitor” junkets. “But once the regulatory authority is established, it is very much within their purview to issue regulations and necessary directives.’’
Philippine Senate OKs POGO ban
On June 9, Philippine lawmakers approved legislation that would permanently ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs). Senate Bill 2868, known as the Anti-POGO Act, passed 23-0. A companion bill passed in the House the following day. Both work by repealing the law that taxed POGOs.
Last July, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called for the immediate shutdown of the POGO industry after reports of widespread crime in the sector, including money laundering, online fraud and human trafficking.
The Senate bill would prohibit future POGOs, punish people who aid or abet them and calls for the seizure of all POGO-related property and equipment. “This isn’t just a law—it’s the people’s demand to end the POGO menace,” said Senator Win Gatchalian, the bill’s sponsor.
Meanwhile, an estimated 9,000 POGO-affiliated foreigners remain in the country, months after they were ordered to leave. According to the Philippine Star, Gilbert Cruz of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said the PAOCC detention facility already exceeds capacity and cannot house any more detainees.
Galaxy Exec: Thailand Casinos Could Boost Tourism
Earlier this year, Thailand saw an increase in tourism after its prominent role in the HBO series “The White Lotus.” But the increase was short-lived. Galaxy Entertainment Group Chief Brand Officer Kevin Clayton says entertainment complexes with casinos can help.
“Thailand tourism needs a reboot,” Clayton said at an industry roundtable in Bangkok last week. Proposed entertainment complexes, he added, are an “important strategy to fuel incremental growth.”
Galaxy has expressed interest in bidding on a Thailand casino license, along with other big names including MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, Genting Malaysia, Las Vegas Sands and Melco Resorts and Entertainment.
The “White Lotus effect” caused a surge in travel to Thailand earlier this year, but it dropped off after the high-profile kidnapping of a Chinese actor, the March earthquake that felled a high-rise in Bangkok, and more recently, armed skirmishes at the border of Cambodia.
To date this year, almost 1 million fewer Chinese tourists have visited Thailand than in 2024, reports the Straits Times. In May, international arrivals dropped 14 percent to 2.6 million. The decline was greatest among tourists from the country’s top feeder markets: China, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea and India. According to the Thailand Foreign Office, “These markets remain essential to Thailand’s tourism industry, sustaining overall visitor numbers.”
Clayton said these reports have prompted a “reassessment of Thailand as a destination” that could be changed with the introduction of legal casino resorts.
Analysts estimate that the complexes could generate gross gaming revenue of up to THB308 trillion ($9.1 billion) per year, making Thailand the world’s third-largest market after Macau and Las Vegas.
The government anticipates a 5 percent to 10 percent rise in overall foreign visitor numbers; a spike in tourism revenue of as much as THB220 billion; and the creation of 9,000 to 15,000 new jobs.
