Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | October 2013 8 “On the 19th May 2009 His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa successfully annihilated the scourge of terrorism from the land ushering in a period of reconciliation, development and prosperity for Sri Lanka.” —Ministry of Economic Development, “TourismDevelopment Strategy 2011-2016” T he government of Sri Lanka wants tourism to become the island nation’s primary generator of foreign exchange earnings over the next three years and is maneuvering resort casinos into the mainstream of that push. As an economic development model it is one that is growing in popularity among governments across the Asia-Pacific landscape. This is an opportunity, however, that is unique in some key respects: Sri Lanka’s proximity to India being one, with all that implies in terms of access to the subcontinent’s increasingly affluent and gambling-hungry millions; the authoritarian character of the regime is another, 67-year- old Percy Mahendra “Mahinda” Rajapaksa having over the last eight years constructed around himself and his family an all-but- unassailable and swiftly moving economic policy machine. Australian casino tycoon James Packer is a believer, and his faith has been affirmed over the last several weeks with the fast- tracking of two foreigners-only gaming projects in the capital of Colombo totaling 1,200 hotel rooms—US$1 billion in initial capital investment—and involving no less than the country’s largest publicly traded company, leisure giant John Keells Holdings, and in Mr Packer’s own Crown Resorts, the first Western operator to commit big money to the market. “Mixed developments,” these are called, in part to quiet a sullen parliamentary opposition, mainly to appease the country’s ultra-nationalist and highly politicized Buddhist clergy, Theravadists who purport to have serious qualms about all this. But a certain squeamishness has always marked official attitudes toward gambling in Sri Lanka, and euphemism has always been a convenient method for dealing with it. Sri Lanka’s Strong Hand President Mahinda Rajapaksa is pro-business, pro-investment and pro-casino, and there isn’t much on his island that dares oppose him … So what’s not to like?