IRD all at sea in evaluating casino revenue

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) could not evaluate the actual income and expenditure of casinos, SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva told Parliament on Friday.Dr. de Silva said that a regulatory body must be established if Sri Lanka was to expand casinos.

The Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) approved the Betting and Gaming Levy (Amendment) Bill recently following several assurances by the Ministry of Finance, he said.

“Those in charge promised the CoPF that they would establish this institution before 31 December 2023. New licenses to casinos will only be given after that, as they promised,” he said.MP de Silva said that there is a problem collecting taxes from casinos. The IRD can’t estimate the actual income and expenditure of casinos, he said.

“IRD will have to calculate the taxes based on the figures the casinos provide. There hasn’t been a single completed audit of a casino. The President has asked for our support in establishing the regulatory body for casinos. We have appointed a coordinating committee, and MPs Duminda Dissanayake, M.A. Sumanthiran, Nimal Lansa, and I are on it,” he said.