The parliament of Sri Lanka has passed legislation that legalizes casino gaming and betting on sports and horseracing.

The move comes amid protest from the opposition United National Party and local religious authorities. Sri Lanka is about 70 percent Buddhist.

The new law allows the establishment of special zones for gaming. Investors are said to be already lining up to take part in a proposed $500 million tourism zone in the Beira Lake area of Colombo, the nation’s capital.

Casinos and betting shops have been operating without regulation for a number of years. Casinos usually co-opt names of Las Vegas casinos, including Bally’s, Mirage and others. The new law will make all unlicensed gaming and betting illegal after 2012, subject to fines of $45,000 or five years in prison.

Sri Lanka only recently emerged from a 26-year period of civil unrest, which at times had erupted into full-scale civil war. Now the nation is looking to rebuild its tourism industry, and casino gaming is seen as one important element of that effort.

In October, Delta Corp. jumped the gun by saying it planned to open casinos in Sri Lanka in the next six months, to take advantage of the growth in tourism that has followed the ending of hostilities. Tourist arrivals were up 44 percent in the first nine months of 2010, to about 450,000 arrivals, according to the Sri Lankan tourism agency.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.