{"id":777006697,"date":"2023-06-28T08:34:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T11:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777006697"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:34:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T23:34:04","slug":"sri-lanka-to-create-gambling-regulatory-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-to-create-gambling-regulatory-authority","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka to create Gambling Regulatory Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The government will draft a bill to establish a new gambling regulator in a bid to increase tax collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka.- The Cabinet of Ministers has given its approval to draft a bill for the creation of&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-to-advance-with-creation-of-casino-regulatory-authority\" target=\"_blank\">a Gambling Regulatory Authority<\/a>. Local media report that the regulator&#8217;s goal will be to ensure the proper collection of taxes from gambling venues, combat <strong>illegal activities <\/strong>and mitigate the potential negative impact of gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The legislation is expected to<strong> introduce an entrance fee for casinos<\/strong> in order to regulate access and potentially generate additional revenue for the government.&nbsp;Casinos are estimated to owe US$7.4m in taxes&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-gaming-tax-contribution-falls-in-real-terms\" target=\"_blank\">due to a lack of regulatory oversight<\/a>. The plan to regulate gaming would allow operators to obtain licences for up to 20 years, with five-year renewable licences costing US$1.36m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, the cabinet already granted casino licences to existing gaming operators in the country. Despite the passage of the Casino Business (Regulation) Act in 2010, which&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-to-issue-casino-licences-to-boost-tax-collection\" target=\"_blank\">mandated the issuance of licences for gaming establishments<\/a>, the necessary regulations were yet to be published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government will draft a bill to establish a new gambling regulator in a bid to increase tax collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":14536,"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's Cabinet has approved a bill to establish a Gambling Regulatory Authority, aiming to enhance tax collection, combat illicit gaming, and mitigate social impacts. This legislation will introduce casino entrance fees and formalize a licensing framework, with 5-year renewable licenses priced at US$1.36m, addressing a long-standing regulatory void.","focusai_entities":"Cabinet of Ministers, Gambling Regulatory Authority","focusai_location":"Sri Lanka","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.75), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Licensing Framework Details","query":"What specific governance frameworks and technical standards will the new Gambling Regulatory Authority implement for B2B and B2C licensing beyond the stated fees and durations?"},{"label":"Tax Revenue Impact","query":"Beyond the US$7.4m in currently owed taxes, what are the projected annual GGR and NGR tax contributions anticipated from the newly regulated Sri Lankan iGaming market, considering the proposed entrance fees and licensing structure?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16334],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777006697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777006697","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=777006697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777006697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777006733,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777006697\/revisions\/777006733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777006697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777006697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777006697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}