Illegal football betting causes billions of dollars in losses.

According to Professor Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, sports betting has negative consequences. Many illegal football betting cases involve international organizations with the participation of domestic and foreign ringleaders, and some individuals addicted to gambling have resulted in the loss of billions of USD.

In his opening remarks at the seminar "Contributing to the amendment and supplementation of Decree 06/2017/ND-CP on the business of betting on horse racing, dog racing, and international football," held on the afternoon of November 28th, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Vice President of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises - stated that the business of betting on horse racing, dog racing, and international football is a common trend and is developing in many countries around the world . Currently, this industry has a total global revenue of hundreds of billions of USD.

In Vietnam, the Government issued Decree No. 06/2017/ND-CP on January 24, 2017, regarding the business of betting on horse racing, dog racing, and international football. This demonstrates the interest of the Party and the State in developing this industry.

However, due to difficulties and obstacles in the implementation process, Decree No. 06/2017/ND-CP has not yet been put into practice. This has led to negative economic and social consequences.

Workshop "Comments on amending and supplementing Decree 06/2017/ND-CP on the business of betting on horse racing, dog racing and international football".

To address this situation, on April 8, 2024, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 1035/NQ-UBTVQH15 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly. This resolution tasked the Government and the Ministry of Finance with completing the legal framework for lottery, betting, casino, and prize-winning games. The resolution also required that the amendment of Decree No. 06/2017/ND-CP be completed no later than 2025.

In his opening remarks at the seminar, Professor Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, stated that General Secretary To Lam had requested ministries and agencies to put an end to the practice of "prohibiting something because it cannot be managed."

"In my opinion, there's also the viewpoint that 'it can be managed, there's already a legal framework, but some ministries don't want to implement it.' A typical example is sports betting, which has negative consequences."

"Many illegal football betting cases with international elements have resulted in the loss of billions of USD. This causes damage to businesses that have sufficient capital, human resources, and technology, and leads to a loss of state revenue," Mr. Mai said.

According to Mr. Mai, in 2018, the National Assembly enacted the consolidated Law on Physical Education and Sports. This law provides a legal framework for sports betting and sports betting businesses. The government has issued a decree on this matter, even clearly defining the scope of application, but the enforcement of the law has not been strict.

The business of betting at horse and dog races has been piloted for many years without incident, negative consequences, or social problems. This shows that it is unnecessary to extend the pilot phase of betting at racetracks; instead, conditions should be created for businesses to quickly adopt methods of distributing tickets outside the racetracks to offset costs and contribute more to the state budget.

The Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises believes that Decree 06/2017/ND-CP, which stipulates a 5% contribution of revenue from the pilot program for international football betting, is an excessive burden on businesses, leading to very low payout rates for players.

Regarding advertising, this decree stipulates that betting businesses are only permitted to advertise using billboards and signs within the premises of their headquarters, racetracks, and fixed betting ticket sales points. However, they must ensure that the advertising content cannot be heard or seen by people outside.

"If businesses aren't allowed to advertise externally, how can they attract those involved in illegal gambling to switch to legal betting, especially in the international football betting business?" Mr. Mai questioned.

Professor, Doctor of Science Nguyen Mai - Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, delivered a speech at the conference.

Regarding recommendations for amending and supplementing Decree 06/2017/ND-CP, Mr. Mai emphasized the need to amend Article 12 to stipulate that the entire system of technical equipment, including servers, backup servers, and data warehouses, must be located within Vietnamese territory so that state management agencies can monitor it 24/7 whenever necessary.

Articles 14 and 15 need to be amended to allow the simultaneous distribution of betting tickets via telephone and the Internet after a minimum of one year of business distributing betting tickets through terminals at racetracks (for horse racing and dog racing betting) and at fixed ticket sales points (for international football betting).

At the same time, Article 42 should be amended to reduce the percentage of businesses' contributions to the budget to a more reasonable level, or to contribute 5% of profits instead of revenue. Article 48 should be amended to allow advertising but not to directly or indirectly encourage participation in betting, and Article 63 should be added to apply to businesses that were granted a certificate of eligibility to conduct betting business before this decree came into effect.

Hoai Anh

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/chinh-sach/ca-cuoc-bong-da-phi-phap-lam-that-thoat-hang-ty-usd/20241128034308643