Sheldon Adelson, the owner of Las Vegas Sands, once intended to develop casinos in Hanoi and HCMC in 2012. But he has not returned. But nw some Vietnamese investors are intending to develop casinos.

Chair of VAFIEs Nguyen Mai

Ho Tram Casino officially became operational in 2013. Corona Phu Quoc developed by Phu Quoc Investment and Tourism Development began receiving players in January 2019. A casino in Van Don, Quang Ninh is expected to obtain a license as agencies are discussing amending Decree 03 on casino business.

Most recently, local newspapers reported that the casino project registered by a subsidiary of Long Thanh Golf Investment JSC has been put on the table of agencies.

However, contrary to the prediction that Vietnam will see a casino boom once the government accepts to open casinos to Vietnamese, the predicted boom has not occurred, though Vietnamese with monthly income of VND10 million or more are allowed to go to domestic casinos.

Regarding the Van Don Casino, economist Nguyen Mai, and chair of the Vietnam Foreign Invested Enterprises’ Association (VAFIEs), said there are great advantages in the locality to develop a casino, including a modern airport capitalized at VND7.2 trillion, and a modern highway from Ha Long City, a famous tourist site, to Van Don.

The land plot reserved for Sungroup’s casino project remains deserted with rocks and gravel. The government once intended to develop Van Don into a special economic zone (SEZ), together with Van Phong and Phu Quoc. However, voting at the National Assembly about the SEZ development was canceled, and it’s still unclear when the issue will be put into discussion once again.

Mai said there is no need to develop casinos. China has no casino on the mainland, and gamblers have to go to Macau to play. And so does Hong Kong.

An economist said that the time of casinos is over and developing casinos is no longer a hot topic of discussion in the region.

He said Malaysia is the only country that has developed casinos on a large scale. Singapore is also developing casinos, but it is just on a trial basis.

In Vietnam, Hai Phong City was the first locality to develop casinos. But its leaders are now more interested in building seaports, airports and IZs, not casinos. The operating casinos there regularly report losses.

Kim Chi

Macau’s Suncity to open US$4-billion casino in Vietnam by year-end

Macau’s biggest junket operator Suncity Group will open its own US$4-billion casino-integrated resort in Vietnam by year’s end, Bloomberg reported.