VietNamNet Bridge – Opinions from the well-informed circle said MGM has withdrawn from Ho Tram Strip because of the problems with the casino - a project component. What’ll be the project like in the post-MGM period?

 
The Ho Tram dream

The Article No. 7 of the draft decree on casino management which has been opened for public opinions, says that there are 2,000 games machines and 180 tables at maximum at every casino.

The limitations seem to be foreseeable to ACDL, the investor of Ho Tram Strip, which plans to have 9,000 5-star rooms by 2020 and a casino with 180 dealer tables and 2,000 electronic games machines.

However, the draft decree still has not been approved so far.

This, according to experts, could be the reason why MGM decided to quit the project.

It’s not clear what ACDL offered to MGM when inviting MGM to undertake the management over the resort once the project gets completed. However, it was a great success of ACDL to get the nod from the big US group. MGM is a big name in the casino industry, but it still accepted to manage a project when the host country still prohibited its citizens to go to casinos.

Vietnam, in the eyes of international investors, is an ideal place to develop casinos. This explains why a lot of giant investors once planned to pour money into the country.

However, many of them finally decided to give up the projects, simply because they still could not see any possibility of the Vietnamese government allowing Vietnamese to go to casinos.

The withdrawal of Genting Group from a casino project in Hoi An ancient town last October, the withdrawal of Sheldon Andelson, President of Sands Group showed that Vietnamese clients were targeted by the investors as the main clients of their casinos.

The President of Sands Group once stated that if the government of Vietnam wants Sands to pour its huge capital to Vietnam, it will have to allow its 90 million people to gamble.

Lloyd Nathan of ACDL also said on local newspapers that for the resorts like MGM Grand Ho Tram, the receipts from casino will be the main source of income.

What will come to Ho Tram?

As MGM left, its efforts to recruit and train 2,000 workers over the last four years have become in vain. It’s obvious that the loss MGM incurs in the cooperation deal with ACDL is relatively big.

What MGM did recently showed that the hotel and casino group tends to make more outward investments. Last October, MGM announced the investment its second casino in Macau.

It’s unclear how much MGM will have to compensate for breaking the agreement. Meanwhile, the big loss for ACDL is obvious. More than 2,000 workers trained by MGM would be put under the management of ACD. How will they be once MGM withdraws?

Another question has been raised that who will undertake the management over the project after the withdrawal of MGM?

One can read on ACDL’s official website that ACDL is considering another brand for the project management.

If Ho Tram can get the permission to run the casino with 90 dealer tables, the investor would need a big international management brand. Owning and managing 19 resorts all over the world, MGM Resorts International can assure profuse customers for Ho Tram. Meanwhile, this may not be done by other brands.

NCDT