Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka completed a foundational overhaul of its gambling regime via the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act, No.17 of 2025, certified 3 September 2025 and in force since 1 December 2025. The Act repealed the Betting on Horse-Racing Ordinance (Cap.44), the Gaming Ordinance (Cap.46) and the Casino Business (Regulation) Act, No.17 of 2010, consolidating casino, betting, horse-racing and, newly, digital gambling under one regulator. Implementation is running behind schedule: a first tranche of secondary regulations targeted for 30 June 2026 was not published, and full operationalisation is now expected only by 30 November 2026, per a Committee on Public Finance briefing. The regime therefore combines a durable, in-force primary statute with an as-yet-unoperationalised licensing and supervisory apparatus, leaving the practical shape of the new online-gambling recognition undetermined for now.

The Gambling Regulatory Authority Act, No.17 of 2025, certified 3 September 2025 and in force from 1 December 2025, repealed the Betting on Horse-Racing Ordinance, the Gaming Ordinance and the Casino Business (Regulation) Act, No.17 of 2010, replacing three sectoral statutes with a single consolidated framework and regulator. The Act creates three new licence categories: the Digital Gambling Licence, the Gambling Software Licence, and the Junket Operator Licence. Each category exists as a matter of primary legislation, but the secondary regulations that would govern application procedure, fees and technical standards for any of the three have not yet been published. This leaves the enabling Act itself as a durable and settled instrument, while the licensing regime it authorises remains, for now, unactionable by any applicant. No operator currently holds a Digital Gambling Licence or a Gambling Software Licence under the new regime.

Market entry now requires a GRA licence held by a company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007, with minimum capital set by Ministerial order. Foreign investors must enter via locally-registered subsidiaries, branches or joint ventures. Land-based casino entry remains anchored to large integrated-resort projects; the digital gambling and software licence routes are newly available but await detailed GRA procedures and fee schedules.

Under the prior (now-repealed) Casino Business Licensing Regulation 2022, a new or renewed casino licence cost LKR 500,000,000 for a five-year term, payable upfront, with multi-period options up to 20 years. The GRA Act 2025 sets minimum capital by Ministerial order and contemplates separate licence fees for digital gambling and software licences, which are not yet published. A casino entrance levy applies (USD 100 for residents under the 2025 budget).

Gross gambling revenue tax was increased from 15% to 18% under the 2025 budget, with the GRA monitoring compliance. The casino entrance levy under the Betting and Gaming Levy Act No. 40 of 1983 was raised to USD 100 for resident entrants. Lottery proceeds (NLB/DLB) are taxed under separate state arrangements. Digital gambling licensees must pay applicable taxes under the new regime.

Enforcement under the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act, No. 17 of 2025 is beginning to take visible shape even before the licensing framework itself is complete. The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka instructed all telecommunications service providers to block access to 24 identified unlicensed gambling platforms, reported effective from 6 August 2026, exercising a blocking power under the Act. General offences are addressed under section 44 of the Act, though specific penalty figures attached to particular offences, including a reported penalty of up to LKR 10 million or two years' imprisonment for operating without a digital gambling licence, have not been confirmed against the statutory text at pinpoint level. A notable asymmetry in the enforcement is that four transitioning Colombo land-based casinos' own online arms, equally unlicensed under the Digital Gambling Licence regime because no licence has yet been issued to any operator, were not included in the TRCSL blocking action against offshore platforms. This selective enforcement pattern signals a de facto grace period for domestically-based operators that has no apparent basis in the statute itself, and it is a risk factor for any new entrant assessing how enforcement might be applied once the full licensing framework, including the pending section 19 rules, takes effect. No primary GRA or TRCSL notice confirming the legal basis and precise scope of the blocking action was located; the finding rests on a single trade-press report.

Sri Lanka's regulatory direction is liberalising/formalising following GRA Act commencement on 1 December 2025, framed by the government as central to post-crisis recovery, tourism and FDI. Key watchpoints are GRA secondary regulations and technical standards (digital gambling and software), revenue-tracking weaknesses flagged by critics, questions over regulator autonomy, and online provisions described as still underdeveloped. Regional competition from UAE and Thailand adds urgency.