Audio: Casinos won’t develop Lanka’s economy: Harsha

THURSDAY, 20 JUNE 2013 

Well-known economist and UNP parliamentarian Harsha De Silva said today casinos, which were being set up in Colombo, were not meant to develop country’s economy because of the huge tax concessions given to the owning companies.

“The Finance Ministry has instructed the Board of Investment to ensure that tax and betting levy concessions are granted to casino companies, if they invest more than Rs.350 million. In most countries casinos are set up to increase government revenue. But how are we going to collect any revenue by giving tax concessions to casino companies,” Dr. Silva said.

He told a news conference that the government had sold a 2.5 acre land just opposite Lake House for as little as Rs.3.6 million a perch to a casino company whereas a perch was sold to Krrish and Sunvilla for Rs.10 million.

“The land was sold to the casino company without calling for tenders or without a valuation report from the government assessor. We won’t allow the government to sell this land at a price which is less than what was estimated by the government assessor,” Dr. Silva said.

Dr. Silva said if the government was going to introduce casinos to Sri Lanka, three conditions must be met -- the appointment of a casino regulator,the imposition of a minimum 40% tax on gambling and hold discussions with all stakeholders.

“If the government is going to introduce casinos to Sri Lanka, it must do three things. First a casino regulator must be established just like all other countries having casinos and they have to abide by very strict rules and regulations of the country. Secondly a minimum 40% tax on gambling must be imposed and thirdly the government must have discussions with all stakeholders including civil society groups and religious leaders on the consequence of setting up casinos,” he said.

Dr. Silva rubbished the Government claim that the setting up of casinos was an integrated development project though it was clearly not so.(Ajith Siriwardana- DM Online)Pix by Kithsiri De Mel

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By Uditha Jayasinghe-June 20, 2013 
Gambling with fate, a top Minister on Wednesday rejected claims that the Government plans to open a casino in Colombo with Australian gaming mogul James Packer, but did not rule out the possibility in the future.
Investment Promotions Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana insisted that the investment proposal under discussion from casino kingpin James Packer was only for a “mixed development” project of US$ 350 million that would include a five star hotel, restaurants and penthouses but not a casino.
However, he admitted that there was room for the investors to transfer an existing gaming license from another owner and operate a casino.
Abeywardana defended the loophole by vehemently pointing out that the Government would not issue new gaming licenses and that if Sri Lanka wished to reach the target of 2.5 million arrivals by 2016 it would need to open itself up to similar investment options.

“If you take countries like Thailand and the Maldives you find that they have been flexible in this regard. Thailand, which is a Buddhist country, allows casinos to attract tourists. Maldives, which is a Muslim state, nonetheless allows alcohol consumption on island resorts. If we want high end tourists to come to Sri Lanka we must understand that such investments are necessary,” he told media.
He also gave examples of Singapore style regulations to protect locals and having a “foreigners only” policy as is already existent in some casinos in Sri Lanka.
The Minister defended the 12-year tax holiday given to the Kerry Packer project, insisting it would give Sri Lanka a boost in attracting more foreign direct investment.  Recalling the US$ 500 million Shangri-la deal Abeywardana went on to say that the Kerry Packer project was given far less concessions and argued that higher taxation was not possible because it was smaller in scale.
In 2012 the Government set a target of US$ 2 billion but only managed to attract US$ 1.2 billion. Nonetheless Abeywardana is upbeat of the island’s chances of meeting the mark in 2013.
He revealed that a US$ 640 million dollar investment would be inked as early as next week with a local company for a hotel in Colombo while in the last three months the Government has approved US$ 280 million worth of projects.