In its report to the Government's Party Personnel Committee on a number of important issues related to the management of casino activities in Vietnam that needs the Politburo’s guidance, the Ministry of Finance mentioned these projects. In this report, the Ministry also made proposals related to the licensing and management of casino business in Vietnam.

Specifically, it proposed extending the pilot period for Vietnamese people to be able to play at the casino on Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang province until 2024, instead of 2022. 

According to the ministry, Phu Quoc casino welcomed 240,560 players by the end of 2021, of which Vietnamese accounted for 65.6%. Its accumulated revenue since operation is about VND 3,218 billion ($139 million) and its tax payment is VND 1,730 billion.

In Vietnam, only two casino projects are opened for Vietnamese players, including Phu Quoc casino and Van Don casino (Quang Ninh province). According to the initial plan, the pilot period for these casinos to serve Vietnamese players is 3 years, from 2019 to 2022.

However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Ministry of Finance has suggested to extend the pilot period to 2024. After this year, the ministry will coordinate with relevant agencies to summarize and evaluate the pilot process and make proposal on allowing Vietnamese to enter casinos.

Regarding the operation of casinos in Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance said that of the 9 licensed casinos, 8 are in operation, but all of them are incurring heavy losses.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, these casinos had to suspend business during the time of social distancing. In 2021, Hong Van casino in Quang Ninh province had to close. This led to a sharp decrease in revenue of casinos in 2021, when it was equivalent to 89% of 2020 and 58% of 2019.

Total revenue in 2021 of 6 small casinos including Do Son casino in Hai Phong, Silver Shores in Da Nang, Lao Cai international hotel in Lao Cai province and Loi Lai, Hoang Gia and Hong Van in Quang Ninh province only reached VND 86 billion ($3.7 million).

Meanwhile, the total revenue in 2021 of the 3 large casinos - Nam Hoi An (Quang Nam province), Ho Tram (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) and Phu Quoc (Kien Giang province) was estimated at VND 1,462 billion ($63 million).

Thus, the total revenue of casinos in Vietnam last year reached about VND 1,548 billion, compared to the average revenue in the period 2017-2019 of VND 1,700 billion/year.

Mai Lan