{"id":777027205,"date":"2025-06-02T08:57:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T11:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777027205"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:22:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:22:50","slug":"sri-lanka-government-publishes-draft-gambling-regulatory-authority-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-government-publishes-draft-gambling-regulatory-authority-bill","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka government publishes draft Gambling Regulatory Authority bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The bill would create a new gambling regulator for Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka.- The draft bill to create a Sri Lanka Gambling Regulatory Authority has been published in the government gazette, taking it closer to a parliamentary vote. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft bill in April<\/a> and the bill was published under the directive of president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also minister of finance, planning, and economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If approved, the Sri Lanka Gambling Regulatory Authority Act would alter the Horse Racing Betting Ordinance and Gambling Ordinance and repeal the Casino Ordinance, which are considered to be outdated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new regulator would oversee all gambling in Sri Lanka, including online gambling and activities at sea and in the Colombo Port City, a new area built by reclaiming land on the western edge of the capital. It would also be responsible for collecting taxes from the sector and preventing illegal gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City of Dreams Sri Lanka saw a\u00a0Phase I opening in Colombo October<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0687 rooms, restaurants and entertainment venues, including ballrooms and event and conference facilities. Phase II, with a 113-key Nuwa Hotel and gaming operations, is expected to open in the third quarter of this year. Bluehaven Services, a subsidiary of Melco Resort, has a 20-year licence effective from\u00a0April 1, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"City
City of Dreams Sri Lanka.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Papara owner and 12 others arrested in Turkey in operation against illegal gambling<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bill would create a new gambling regulator for Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777027001,"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 is advancing legislation to establish a new Gambling Regulatory Authority, consolidating oversight of all gaming verticals, including online and integrated resorts like City of Dreams Sri Lanka. This new framework aims to modernize existing ordinances, streamline tax collection, and combat illicit gambling activities. The draft bill, approved by the Cabinet, is now closer to a parliamentary vote.","focusai_entities":"Sri Lanka Gambling Regulatory Authority, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Cabinet of Ministers, Bluehaven Services, Melco Resort, City of Dreams Sri Lanka","focusai_location":"Sri Lanka, Colombo","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.8), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact Assessment","query":"What specific changes to existing B2B\/B2C licensing requirements and operational compliance frameworks are anticipated under the new Sri Lanka Gambling Regulatory Authority Act?"},{"label":"Tax Revenue Projections","query":"How will the new regulator's tax collection mandate impact the projected Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) and Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) for licensed operators in Sri Lanka, particularly for integrated resorts like City of Dreams?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,154,16334],"tags":[29,23911,1897],"class_list":["post-777027205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legislation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-igaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027205","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=777027205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777027221,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027205\/revisions\/777027221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777027001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777027205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777027205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777027205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}