Vietnam approves casino development

Vietnam authorities have approved the opening of new casino, which could be ready by 2021.

Vietnam.- Gaming expansion continues in Vietnam, as authorities have recently approved another casino project, which will be operated by the Laguna Lang Co. The gaming salon will be added to the company’s resort located in central Vietnam and it is estimated that operations will begin near 2021, according to the official report.

The project was approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc earlier this week. The company had presented the proposal of rising its investment from US$875 million to US$2 billion in order to install the casino and further hotel villas and apartments. The casino will operate 500 electronic gaming machines and 50 card shufflers. “The figures are expected to increase to 2,000 machines and 200 card shufflers by 2029,” revealed the statement.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese people are finally able to gamble at casinos thanks to the Circular 102/2017/TT-BTC, suede by the Ministry of Finance, which guides a number of articles on casino business that took effect last month. Nationals will be permitted to gamble at casinos if they prove that their income is higher than US$436, or if it’s taxable at level 3. Moreover, casinos now have to open books or issue electronic cards in order to control the people who are allowed to enter the facilities.

The new circular is expected to boost the activity in the zone and encourage the opening of casinos around the Asian country, specially in administrative-economic zones like Vân Đồn in Quảng Ninh Province, Bắc Vân Phong in Khánh Hòa and Phú Quốc in Kiên Giang. The first province recently allowed real estate developer Sun Group to build a US$2 billion integrated resort on 2,500 hectares in the special economic zone. The other two provinces are urging the government to pick casinos in their territories to trial entry for Vietnamese people.