Taxes to be imposed on online bets as well

Deputy Minister of Industry, Chathuranga Abeyasinghe, states that the government is paying close attention to imposing taxes on online gambling and betting businesses in the future. Making a special statement through his social media account, the Deputy Minister pointed out that the relevant tax imposition activities are scheduled to commence after this sector is properly regulated.

In accordance with the act introduced last year for the regulation of gambling businesses, the government will take steps to establish a special regulatory authority for this purpose in the future. This will ensure the systematic implementation of necessary laws and regulations. It has been identified that a large amount of revenue is currently lost to the government due to unregulated online gambling, and it is expected that the funds generated through new tax impositions will contribute to the country's development activities.

The Deputy Minister further emphasized that, in parallel with this new tax policy, the government plans to minimize the existing indirect taxes on essential goods in the future.