New Casino licenses to require minimum investments
ECONOMYNEXT – The Government has introduced a minimum investment requirement of 30 and 100 million dollars for new casino licenses in an ‘integrated development’ in amended regulations published by the Finance Ministry.
In January, Sri Lanka announced a fee of 10 billion rupees for a 20-year casino license in an ‘integrated development’ of 250 million US dollars, and five billion rupees for an ‘integrated development’ of over 500 million dollars.
Under the new rules announced in February, a casino in the 250 million dollar integrated development, should have an investment of a minimum of 30 dollars but less than 100 million dollars.
A casino in the 500 million dollar integrated development category, should have a minimum investment of 100 million US dollars.The rules apply to an integrated development “approved by the minister”, under the latest revision.
An integrated development is defined as a “property that provides diversified leisure offerings including hotel, casino, entertainment, retail and restaurants.
For existing operators, the 20-year license fee is 2 billion rupees, with 500 million for the first five years and 1.5 billion for the next 15 years.For any operator the renewal fee is 10 billion rupees.The earlier gazette also said the fees may be revised every five years, subject to a limit of 20 percent.
