Sri Lanka becoming international illegal gaming hub: COPF Chief

By Yohan Perera  

Making what he described as staggering disclosures on online gambling, MP Harsha de Silva told Parliament yesterday that Sri Lanka is becoming an international illegal gaming hub after Myanmar and Cambodia.”Online gaming has become very popular among Sri Lankan youth and children,” the MP, who is also the Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), said.”Sri Lanka is actually becoming an illegal online gaming hub,” he said.The MP demonstrated how to log in to online gaming platforms using his mobile phone during his speech. 
He said there are more than 40 methods of making online payments for these games.”It is the Japanese newspaper Nike which has named Sri Lanka as a major online gaming hub after Myanmar and Cambodia. It is a shame that Sri Lanka has earned such a reputation. 
The absence of proper laws has led to this situation,” he said, adding that some of the organisations operating online gaming platforms are registered abroad. He said these companies can be regulated only if they are registered in Sri Lanka.. He said the Central Bank had failed to provide satisfactory answers to 18 questions raised by COPF on the subject of online gaming. He added that the questions were submitted to the Central Bank in April this year. He said the existing laws that regulate casinos cannot be used to monitor and regulate online casinos.”The Chairman of the Gaming Regulatory Commission, N. M. W. N. Bandara, appeared before COPF recently. He said it would be possible to implement regulations pertaining to gaming by November this year. However, the COPF Chairman said the regulations have yet to be finalised.””The proposed Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, Financial Transactions Reporting Bill, and Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing Bill are important. However, it is also important to fill the loopholes through which companies engaged in illegal online gaming escape regulation,” he stressed.