Sri Lanka official says investors can work with existing license holders

A senior government official said investors planning to spend more than $1.3 billion in luxury resorts on the island may be able to proceed with casinos as long as they work with existing license holders. The future of the projects, including a $350 million development planned by James Packer’s Crown Resorts, was thrown into doubt after the government last month passed a casino bill with no mention of new casinos. Reuters cited government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella as saying casinos will be restricted to D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha, the area where Crown has planned the hotel and anybody can operate casinos in that area if they have a licence held by a local partner. "There is no legal barrier for existing casino businesses getting new partners. There are five licences issued and these licence holders can have one casino per licence. So there'll be five casinos," Reuters cited him as saying.