Australian casino mogul James Packer has abandoned his plans to open up a casino resort in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. Having pulled out of what could have been a very lucrative opportunity for the country, James Packer is now being shunned by Sri Lankan politicians. According to a report in The Guardian, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Packer that he is not welcome in the country.
After the casino mogul announced that he would not build a casino in the country, Wickremesinghe aired his frustrations in a speech. He said: “Packer has said he will not come. Who asked you to come? Please don’t come, not in this lifetime. We need only good investors.” Packer has been working hard to establish a new casino resort in Sri Lanka, as part of his plans to expand into further into Asia’s gambling market.
His proposal was initially met with scepticism from Sri Lankan religious leaders, but it was eventually decided that a casino resort would help to improve the local economy in the country. However, things changed again when a new government came into power in Sri Lanka. The previous government granted Packer’s casino resort a 5% tax rate for the casino – a generous discount for such a venue.
Now, under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the government scraped the discounted rate. Packer decided that it would no longer be worth it to build the new casino, resulting in bridges being burned. Now, it seems that Packer will have to turn his attention to his other casino resort projects.
Crown Resorts is currently bidding for a casino license in Brisbane and is preparing to open a new high-roller resort in Sydney as well as the high profile Studio City in Macau.
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