{"id":19909,"date":"2021-07-06T16:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19909"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:53:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:53:20","slug":"sri-lanka-covid-19-restrictions-eased-but-casinos-remain-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-covid-19-restrictions-eased-but-casinos-remain-closed","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka: Covid-19 restrictions eased but casinos remain closed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authorities have announced a relaxation in Covid-19 countermeasures in Sri Lanka, but casinos will remain closed until further notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka.- The government of Sri Lanka have announced\u00a0<\/strong>that it has started to relax some Covid-19 restrictions, <\/strong>but casinos, night clubs and betting centres will remain closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under new rules, gyms and indoor sporting centres are allowed to reopen following health guidelines.\u00a0Public transport is also allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity<\/strong>\u00a0while transport services in the Western province are allowed to work at 30 per cent seating capacity. Restrictions on interprovincial travel will continue until July 19 as a precautionary measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka’s port city development receives approval<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In May, a bill to support the China-backed port city development<\/a> <\/strong>was approved by 149 votes in Sri Lanka\u2019s 225-member parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development is expected to include an integrated resort with casinos, <\/strong>an entertainment zone, a conference centre, residential developments and a financial zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s Supreme Court<\/a> <\/strong>had previously suggested ways to amend the bill so it would comply with the national constitution. It said that some clauses had to be approved in a public referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan government hopes the project could help the country\u2019s recovery after the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, opposition parties argue that the project could see Sri Lanka lose control of its territory to China<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities have announced a relaxation in Covid-19 countermeasures in Sri Lanka, but casinos will remain closed until further notice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Sri Lanka has eased some COVID-19 restrictions, but land-based casinos, nightclubs, and betting centers remain closed indefinitely. Concurrently, a China-backed port city development, slated to include an integrated resort with gaming facilities, has received parliamentary approval despite constitutional concerns and opposition regarding potential territorial control.","focusai_entities":"Government of Sri Lanka, China","focusai_location":"Sri Lanka, Western province","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Sri Lanka Casino Reopening?","query":"What specific public health metrics or governmental conditions must be met for Sri Lanka's land-based casinos and betting centers to resume operations?"},{"label":"Port City Project Risks?","query":"What are the specific governance and geopolitical risks associated with the China-backed port city development, particularly concerning the integrated resort component and potential impacts on future B2B\/B2C licensing frameworks?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16334],"tags":[23907],"class_list":["post-19909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19909"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19944,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19909\/revisions\/19944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}