Vietnam passes sports betting bill

The National Assembly passed a bill that allows the Vietnamese to bet on certain international football games and horse and dog racing.

Vietnam.- Sports betting is in the spotlight as the US Supreme Court revoked PASPA and allowed the segment to be legalised nationwide. However, Vietnam has also moved towards sports betting expansion as the National Assembly passed a new law that allows locals to bet on government-approved sports events.

The Law on Sports and Physical Training will go into effect next January 1st and was supported by 457 deputies who voted to approve the bill. It is based on a 2017 decree which allowed the Vietnamese to place bets on certain international football games and horse and greyhound racing which hasn’t impacted the market as there are no operators authorised to operate in Vietnam yet.

While disagreeing ministries have taken a role on a lack of organisation for an operator’s bidding process, economist Nguyen Tri Hieu assured that bookmakers would suffer heavy losses if they were to only offer betting on FIFA-recognised tournaments as the government wants. However, the approved legislation is one more step in the right direction to get the segment up and running.