The government in Sri Lanka wants to help revive tourism in the country after the end of a three-decades civil war. For this, the Parliament of Sri Lanka approved a gambling bill for the legalization of casino gambling in the country.

The casino gambling bill had a strong opposition, but was adopted by a large majority in the chamber, dominated by friends of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Casino gambling is not new to Sri Lanka, there are a number of betting kiosks that offer horse and greyhound racing. But these kiosks exist only because they use loopholes in the law and pay taxes to local authorities. With the new legislation, the government will take control of all casino gambling licenses. The Minister of gambling will have power to set up areas where it is authorized to operate gambling. Anyone without a license has the risk of high fines and imprisonment up to 5 years.

Ministers want to boost tourism numbers fivefold within the next six years in Sri Lanka, they say the new legislation will help to accelerate this process. The opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that the action aims to help friends of the government to operate a casino. The new gambling legislation is in stark contrast to a recent conservative action by the Government. Because, local newspapers where forced by the police to post photos of local residents who were involved in porn movies. They have also started a campaign against “obscene posters”. In order to give in to the conservatives, the Minister said that the new casino gambling zones will not be near the vicinity of temples, schools or dense population areas.