Vietnam approves a casino in Phu Quoc

The authorities of Kien Giang Province have approved the inclusion of a casino in a resort on the island.

Vietnam.- A new casino is set to be developed in Vietnam as the authorities have approved a venue on the island of Phu Quoc in Kien Giang Province. It would be a part of a €1.88 billion project that would include gambling as the People’s Committee of the province revealed the approval from the country’s Primer Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The project has been cleared to join a three-year trial scheme that would allow Vietnamese into selected gaming venues, local media reports. The whole project is expected to be completed by 2021 but it remains unclear when the casino would open to public.

Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup is pushing the casino through the Phu Quoc Tourism Development and Investment JSC, of which it owns a 50% share.

Local players are set to be allowed into the Phu Quoc casino following the government’s decision in 2017 to lift a ban on the Vietnamese from gambling in casinos. It followed a January 2017 decree that cleared a trial project for gambling by a specific public, economically-qualified, at some selected veneus.

Last year, Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd said that the almost 30 gaming facilities in Vietnam make the market worth €1 billion approximately. The Vietnamese government doesn’t reveal gross gaming revenue (GGR) figures from the existing facilities, but Union Gaming estimated that GGR on a national level stands between €705 million and €1 billion, based on information released by three publicly traded companies and conversations with operators.