Rs.15 Bn lawsuit filed by casino mogul Ravi Wijeratne over alleged contractual breach

Colombo, August 07 (Daily Mirror) - Veteran casino operator Ravi Wijeratne and Rank Entertainment Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., have filed action before the Colombo Commercial High Court against four defendants, including Waterfront Properties (Pvt) Ltd. and John Keells Holdings PLC, seeking Rs. 15 billion in damages for the alleged breach of contractual obligations and failure to disclose material information concerning the plaintiffs.

The plaint cited Waterfront Properties (Pvt) Ltd, John Keells Holdings PLC, Hong Kong-listed Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd., and Blue Heaven Services (Pvt) Ltd. as the defendants.

When the matter was taken up before Colombo Commercial High Court Judge M.Y.M. Irsadeen on Tuesday (5), the defendants were directed to file their answers by November 12, 2025.

In their plaint, the plaintiffs stated that they had been continuously in contractual dealings since 2013 with Cinnamon Life and John Keells Holding PLC, with the understanding that a casino license held by Rank Entertainment Holdings would be set aside to run the casino at the Cinnamon Life casino space. 

The plaintiffs stated that Rank Entertainment Holdings had kept inoperative a casino license solely for this purpose since 2013 by paying all millions of rupees to the Government and without using the license in any way. The plaintiffs further stated that due to the understanding between the parties regarding the use of the casino license at the Cinnamon Life casino space, Rank Entertainment Holdings and Ravi Wijeratne invested heavily and cooperated in projects to facilitate the design and development of the casino space at Cinnamon Life's integrated resort and on financial plans.

The plaintiffs stated that they have over 30 years of experience in operating casinos in Sri Lanka and had extended effort and spent significantly to compile, create and maintain undisclosed information and proprietary commercially sensitive information and now Waterfront Properties and John Keells Holdings, in particular, have unfairly benefited from the same while depriving Rank Entertainment Holdings of the opportunity to use the casino space at Cinnamon Life. 

The plaintiffs further said that the casino space was now being operated by the Hong Kong-based Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited the casino operator, and Bluehaven Services Pvt Ltd, its Sri Lankan subsidiary which now holds a casino license.

It is the position of the Plaintiffs that Cinnamon Life and John Keells Holding PLC had no prior information or experience of the casino industry and in Sri Lanka and wholly relied upon the undisclosed information of Ravi Wijeratne and Rank Entertainment Holdings. The unlawful use and disclosure of undisclosed information is actionable under Sri Lankan law in terms of the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003.