The Sri Lankan government has announced an increase in the gross collection levy it charges licensed casinos from 15% to 18%, while the entrance fee for locals will double from US$50 to US$100 under the 2025 budget announced Monday.
The budget is a crucial one for Sri Lanka and its President Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the nation looks to crawl out from the financial crisis that has engulfed it in recent years, culminating in an international debt default in 2022.
Sri Lanka was thrown a US$2.9 billion lifeline by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the 2025 budget designed to follow IMF guidance around GDP growth.
As reported by Reuters, Dissanayake said the budget had been prepared with a “focused sense of fiscal discipline, economic vision and guidance.”
“While we recognise the role played by the IMF … in stabilizing the economy, we are also of the view that in order to design our economic agenda, achieving economic sovereignty is necessary,” he said.
The increase in casino levies is one of a raft of tax and levy increases across multiple verticals, including tobacco and alcohol corporate taxes, an expansion of the application of stamp duty and an increase in capital gains tax for individuals from 10% to 15%.
It had at one stage last year been proposed that the casino entrance fee be raised to as much as US$200 alongside changes to license fees but it appears calmer heads prevailed.
As reported by IAG, casino license fees were increased a year ago as part of Sri Lanka’s efforts to establish a formal gaming regulator, tasked with overseeing casino tax collection, and countering criminal activity and negative societal impacts from the industry.
Sri Lanka is currently home to six legal casinos: Bally’s, Bellagio, Casino Marina, Stardust, Continental Club and The Ritz Club.
Two more casinos are confirmed to be in the works, with Melco Resorts & Entertainment currently fitting out a casino space at Colombo’s Cinnamon Life while another called Majestic Pride Casino – a partnership between Golden Island Hospitality Ltd and India-based Majestic Group Hotels and Casinos – is set to launch in Colombo Lotus Tower.
