{"id":777028232,"date":"2025-06-24T11:36:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028232"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:36:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:36:53","slug":"sri-lanka-greenlights-gaming-machine-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-greenlights-gaming-machine-imports","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka greenlights gaming machine imports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An ban on the import of gaming equipment will be lifted as casino regulation advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka.- The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) has approved the importation of casino gaming machines as Sri Lanka moves forwards with its reforms of gambling regulation. The move comes after the introduction of the 2025 Gambling Regulatory Authority Bill, which aims to regulate land-based and online gambling<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imports of casino equipment were previously banned under the Casino Business Regulation Act No. 17 of 2010. Confirming the new approval, COPF Chairman Harsha de Silva said there would be a mechanism to monitor every machine to be imported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COPF member Ravi Karunanayake said: \u201cIt is not our duty to assess the harmful effects of the move. We could only see how casinos could help the government earn revenue.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Silva also raised some concerns with the Gambling Regulatory Authority Bill, voicing concern over regulatory gaps, particularly in relation to online casinos and junket operators. De Silva highlighted that while the new bill establishes a regulator, it still lacks operational oversight legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This regulatory reforms come ahead of the planned launch of gaming operations under a 20-year licence at Melco Resorts & Entertainment and John Keells Holdings’ City of Dreams Sri Lanka project in Colombo later this year. The first phase opened in 2024.<\/p>\n\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> Sri Lanka’s cabinet approves bill to create Gambling Regularisation Authority<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ban on the import of gaming equipment will be lifted as casino regulation advances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777026923,"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 Committee on Public Finance has approved the lifting of the casino gaming machine import ban, aligning with the new 2025 Gambling Regulatory Authority Bill. This regulatory advancement facilitates the launch of major integrated resort projects, such as Melco Resorts & Entertainment and John Keells Holdings' City of Dreams Sri Lanka, while also raising concerns regarding oversight of online casinos and junket operators.","focusai_entities":"Committee on Public Finance, COPF, Harsha de Silva, Ravi Karunanayake, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, John Keells Holdings, City of Dreams Sri Lanka","focusai_location":"Sri Lanka, Colombo","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (1.0), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Oversight Gaps?","query":"What specific legislative amendments or supplementary regulations are anticipated to address the identified 'regulatory gaps' concerning online casinos and junket operators, and what is the projected timeline for their implementation?"},{"label":"Impact on Project ROI?","query":"How will the lifting of the import ban and the new regulatory framework impact the projected return on investment and operational timelines for integrated resort projects like City of Dreams Sri Lanka?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16334],"tags":[12436,22312,24799],"class_list":["post-777028232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-casinos","tag-gaming-machines","tag-sri-lanka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028232","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028232"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028408,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028232\/revisions\/777028408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777026923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}