{"id":777044737,"date":"2026-07-10T08:47:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777044737"},"modified":"2026-07-10T08:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:48:14","slug":"sri-lanka-lawmaker-warns-over-delays-to-measures-against-illegal-online-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sri-lanka-lawmaker-warns-over-delays-to-measures-against-illegal-online-gaming","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka lawmaker warns over delays to measures against illegal online gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The chairman of the Committee on Public Finance Harsha de Silva told Parliament that regulatory gaps and offshore operators are allowing illegal igaming to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka.- Harsha de Silva<\/strong>, chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), is the latest lawmaker to warn about the growth of illegal online gambling operations in Sri Lanka. He told Parliament a rapid growth of igaming, particularly among younger users, had been facilitated by the absence of a dedicated regulatory framework <\/strong>and by the prevalence of overseas operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Silva said more than 40 payment channels were in use to fund igaming activity and that existing casino legislation is not suited to supervising online platforms. He added that the COPF had yet to receive satisfactory responses from the Central Bank to a series of questions submitted on the issue earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MP said the head of the Gaming Regulatory Commission had previously indicated that new igaming regulations could be implemented by November but that the measures have not yet been finalised<\/strong>. He also called for the prompt adoption of pending anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing bills, arguing that additional safeguards are needed <\/strong>to prevent unlicensed operators from exploiting gaps in the legal framework.<\/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> Turkey blocked over 84,000 illegal gambling websites in 2025<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chairman of the Committee on Public Finance Harsha de Silva told Parliament that regulatory gaps and offshore operators are allowing illegal igaming to expand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777033949,"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 chairman, Harsha de Silva, has highlighted the rapid expansion of illegal iGaming, particularly among younger users, attributing it to significant regulatory gaps and the prevalence of offshore operators. He noted that existing casino legislation is inadequate for online platforms and that new iGaming regulations, initially expected by November, remain unfinalized, exacerbating AML\/CTF risks. The article underscores the urgent need for a dedicated regulatory framework and robust anti-money laundering measures.","focusai_entities":"Harsha de Silva, Committee on Public Finance (COPF), Central Bank, Gaming Regulatory Commission","focusai_location":"Sri Lanka, Turkey","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Sri Lanka Regulatory Timeline?","query":"What specific legislative actions and timelines are anticipated for the finalization and implementation of Sri Lanka's iGaming regulatory framework, particularly concerning B2B\/B2C licensing and AML\/CTF compliance?"},{"label":"Offshore Operator Impact?","query":"How are the identified 40+ payment channels facilitating offshore iGaming operators impacting Sri Lanka's financial integrity, and what measures are being considered to mitigate these illicit financial flows and enhance payment channel oversight?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16334],"tags":[24634,24799],"class_list":["post-777044737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-illegal-online-gambling","tag-sri-lanka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044737","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=777044737"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777044754,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044737\/revisions\/777044754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777033949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777044737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777044737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777044737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}