From a single betting shop on Maliban Street in 1956 to 11 principal businesses and more than 2,000 people
Sumathi Holdings marked its 70th anniversary on Friday, 9 October, with a celebration at the Sangam Ballroom of ITC Ratnadipa, Colombo, attended by more than 500 guests from Sri Lanka’s business, government, financial and media communities. Held under the theme “70 Years of Sumathi Legacy”, the evening looked back to 1956, when founder Mr. U.W. Sumathipala opened Sporting Star’s first betting shop on Maliban Street, Pettah – the business from which the Group grew.
The evening opened with a drone show and fireworks over Galle Face. The program that followed included an address and toast by Chairman Mr. Jagath Sumathipala, the unveiling of the 70th anniversary logo, and addresses by Directors Mr. Chadu Sumathipala and Mr. Chathula Sumathipala, accompanied by a live orchestra and performances by vocalist Umara Sinhawansa, pianist and music director Soundarie David Rodrigo, and composer and singer Nadeeka Guruge.
Mr. U.W. Sumathipala built Sporting Star into one of the country’s leading bookmakers and established it as the market leader. He also expanded into cinema, supporting the growth of the Sri Lankan film industry and into gems, representing the business at The World Gem and Jewellery Exhibition in Milan. His values of “Honesty and Integrity” remain the Group’s guiding principles today.
After Mr. U.W. Sumathipala’s passing in 1979, Mr. Jagath Sumathipala joined the business at the age of 19, supported by his maternal uncle, Mr. Dharmasiri, who guided him in the horse racing operations. His first assignment was to create the Group’s own race paper, which he turned into a commercial printing company. He moved the main office from Maliban Street to Chatham Street and carried forward his father’s gem business. When his brother, Mr. Thilanga Sumathipala, returned from his studies in 1986, Mr. Jagath Sumathipala handed the racing operations over to him, and Mr. Thilanga Sumathipala built them further.
In 1987 took a new step, Mr. Jagath Sumathipala opened Sri Lanka’s first race-by-race live commentary betting shop. Building on this, the Group began broadcasting races in 1992 and by 1998 was showing every race live across all its outlets. Today Sporting Star operates more than 200 outlets across the island and, since 2019, the online platform BetSS.com.
Mrs. Milina Sumathipala’s influence reached well beyond the business. She gave the entire profit of her film Ganga Addara (1980) to build a Neurosurgery Unit at the Colombo General Hospital, today’s National Hospital. In 1981, she began the blood donation drives and support for the Cancer Hospital through which more than 20,000 pints of blood have since been donated, and in 2001 she became the first woman President of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress.
Following a restructuring in 2017, Mr. Jagath Sumathipala, together with the third generation, has shaped Sumathi Holdings into a Group of 11 principal businesses employing more than 2,000 people, across betting and gaming, healthcare, information technology, restaurants, security, printing, renewable energy, investments and film.
Much of today’s Group began as an answer to something Sporting Star needed. Security for its outlets became Lokx Security Services; printing for its racing papers became InPrint Solutions; and the technology behind its betting systems is now developed by Mainframe.
Three Group companies mark milestones of their own this year:
- Great Wall Restaurants turns 35. Mr. Jagath Sumathipala set it up in 1991 on Chatham Street to bring authentic Chinese food to Colombo.
- Sumathi IT turns 25. It provides network infrastructure, data communications and geospatial engineering across Sri Lanka, and introduced DJI’s enterprise drones to the country.
- LifeServ turns 25. The healthcare distributor has been a leader in Sri Lanka’s drug-eluting stent market for two decades and opened an oncology division in 2025.
A third generation now leads the Group alongside the Chairman. Mr. Chadu Sumathipala leads the Group’s IT sector: he founded Mainframe, brought the Group’s key systems in-house, built BetSS.com, and set up Sumathi IT’s drone division and its first research and development centre. Mr. Chathula Sumathipala leads the Group’s services cluster and grew LifeServ built Sumathi Energy, whose projects include the 5MW Wewila solar plant and battery storage at Monaragala and Wewila.
The celebrations extended to the Group’s people. On 8 October, Sporting Star’s head office celebrated with its staff and presented long-service awards to more than 200 employees with ten or more years’ service, 31 of whom have been with the company for over 30 years. The longest-serving, Mr. R.V. Ghanasena of Anuradhapura, has been with Sporting Star for 40 years. On 10 October, Sporting Star outlets across the island held celebrations of their own for staff from Great Wall Restaurants and commemorative gifts for customers.
“Seventy years ago, my father opened a single shop on Maliban Street, built on his word and the trust of his customers,” said Mr. Jagath Sumathipala, Chairman of Sumathi Holdings. “Honesty and integrity built this Group, and the more than 2,000 people who stand with us today carry those values forward. As we enter our eighth decade, our commitment is to build the businesses that will serve Sri Lanka for the next seventy years.”
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