Aitken Spence & Co., a Sri Lankan
hotelier, faces a delay in the start of its online gambling
business with West Greenwich, RI-based GTECH Holdings Corp. after a state-run
lottery board asked a court to stop the venture, Bloomberg reported.
In December, GTECH, the world’s biggest supplier of online
lotteries, and Aitken Spence agreed to provide online gaming
services to Sri Lanka’s Mahapola Trust Fund, a lottery board run
by a government minister. Another lottery board, recently taken
over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, filed the suit with the
Supreme Court last week.
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The delay underscores the difficulty in investing in the
South Asian island of 19 million people at a time when the
country’s two leaders are in a dispute over concessions made to
Tamil Tiger rebels. The inability of Kumaratunga and Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to resolve their differences has
already caused investors such as Singapore-based Banyan Tree
Resorts and India’s Taj Hotels chain to hold back on investing in
the island, Bloomberg said.
“It’s such a lucrative business, and to try and come in and
take that away from the government may ruffle some feathers,”
said Murtaza Jafferjee, managing director of JB Securities Pvt,
who manages $5 million of Sri Lankan stocks, including Aitken
Spence.
Bloomberg News
