Packer’s Crown resort-casino in Sri Lanka faces further delay

Reuters – A $400 million Sri Lankan resort and casino complex planned by Australia’s Crown Ltd faces additional delays and is unlikely to be approved before the end of the year, a top government official said on Tuesday. The new delay comes after opposition politicians alleged Crown’s chief, gambling tycoon James Packer, was getting concessions not given to local entrepreneurs. Buddhist leaders also said the casino could be detrimental to the culture of Sri Lanka, a predominant Buddhist country where gambling is not accepted morally, despite the on-again, off-again presence of casinos dating back to the 1990s. The government said…