Letting Vietnamese people play in casinos: Benefits in every way

Allowing Vietnamese people to play in casinos, if well managed, will prevent money from flowing abroad, bring large revenue to the budget, and contribute to social security.

Corona Casino in Phu Quoc ( An Giang ) - Photo: C.CONG

That is the assessment with convincing analysis given by many economic experts when discussing the pilot proposal to allow Vietnamese people to play at casinos nationwide, which has just been included by the Ministry of Finance in the draft decree on casino business.

Even if we ban it, Vietnamese people who want to play will still find ways to get tickets to the casino. Therefore, we need to open it up to the public to manage and collect taxes.

Dr. DINH XUAN THAO (former director of the Institute for Legislative Studies of the National Assembly )

Huge demand

Every day, thousands of people leave and cross the border into Cambodia, many of whom go there to gamble. The number of Vietnamese people going to Cambodia to gamble in recent years has been quite large, so many casinos have been opened close to the Vietnam - Cambodia border to meet the needs of Vietnamese customers.

Not to mention millions of Vietnamese tourists traveling to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong also have the need to go to casinos for entertainment and try their luck.

In the country, although so far only Phu Quoc casino (An Giang) is allowed to pilot allowing Vietnamese people to gamble according to the pilot resolution of the Politburo, the remaining casinos are not allowed.

But every day at casinos like Do Son (Hai Phong), Loi Lai, Hong Van, Hoang Gia (Quang Ninh), Ariso (Lao Cai), Crown (Da Nang), Nam Hoi An (Da Nang), Ho Tram (HCMC)..., it is not difficult to see Vietnamese customers circumventing the law to play.

In addition to the need to try their luck at casinos, many people, although knowing that gambling in any form is prohibited by law, are still willing to spend money to try their luck on cyberspace through betting websites, online gambling, Sic Bo games...

Many online gambling and money laundering rings worth thousands of billions of dong have also been discovered, prosecuted, and investigated by the police force in recent times. Recently, in April, Nghe An Provincial Police broke up a gambling and money laundering ring worth thousands of billions of dong per month, prosecuted and arrested Dau Trong Giap (residing in Yen Thanh, Nghe An Province) - the leader of the gambling and money laundering ring.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Dr. Dinh Xuan Thao, former director of the Institute for Legislative Studies under the National Assembly, said that in recent years, we have restricted Vietnamese people from playing in domestic casinos, so many people go abroad to play.

At Xa Xia border gate (An Giang), Cambodia has built a casino right in the border area to attract Vietnamese tourists. Every year, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people go to Cambodia to play casino games. Thus, Vietnamese money flows into Cambodian pockets. This reality has been going on for decades, showing that playing casino games is an entertainment need of many Vietnamese people.

While dozens of casinos have been licensed nationwide, they are restricting Vietnamese people from entering. "This is a problem, so amending and supplementing regulations to allow Vietnamese people to enter to facilitate management and supervision is necessary," said Mr. Thao.

Casino in Ho Tram casino resort complex, Ho Tram commune, Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: HK

Transparency helps better manage casinos

Regarding the policy of allowing Vietnamese people to play at domestic casinos, many economic experts believe it would be better than banning them, but many people still secretly play.

Openly allowing Vietnamese people to play in casinos also makes it easier for authorities to manage casino business activities, collect taxes and fees, and limit the negative aspects of this type of business.

Furthermore, publicly allowing those who need to enter the casino also helps authorities better control the income and money sources of players.

Professor Ha Ton Vinh, an economic expert, said that in Vietnam there are three types of casinos: the first is the game rooms in 4-5 star hotels, the second is the small-scale casino, and the third is the resort-entertainment complexes that operate casinos.

Currently, in addition to casino rooms in 5-star hotels, we have 7 licensed small casinos and a number of resort-entertainment business complexes with casinos.

These casinos all have business licenses, so the upcoming amendment to the decree on casino business needs to clearly stipulate whether Vietnamese people are allowed to enter all casinos nationwide or only large-scale casinos are allowed to allow Vietnamese people to play. Clear regulations will reduce the number of sub-licenses for casino businesses.

According to Mr. Vinh, if Vietnamese people are allowed to play in casinos, it should be opened to all casinos and casino businesses nationwide to ensure equality in business.

"The potential for development of the casino business is great, but we do not have a developed casino industry like some countries, so we have to learn from the experiences of countries with experience in the region such as Macau (China), Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia. These are also countries that have been successful with the casino business model.

In Singapore, two complexes in Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa have been very successful with the casino business model. Investment in casinos here has increased from 6 billion USD to 10 billion USD, creating jobs, contributing significantly to local economic development and no crime has arisen," Mr. Vinh commented.

Agreeing with the proposal to allow Vietnamese people to gamble at domestic casinos, Associate Professor Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh said that there should be regulations on how much money each person can bring into the casino to control players from getting too involved in gambling activities. Furthermore, it is still necessary to regulate that only people with a certain income level can gamble at casinos.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Dong - Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Media Development, people aged 18 and over must take responsibility for themselves. The State cannot take care of each adult and gambling in a casino is a personal matter for each person.

To limit the social impact of the policy of allowing Vietnamese people to play in casinos, Mr. Dong recommends not allowing people to easily access casinos because this is still a conditional business. Casino licensed locations must be separate, limiting access for ordinary people.

3-5 year pilot

Up to now, Vietnam still does not have a specialized agency to manage casino business activities, so Professor Ha Ton Vinh recommends piloting allowing Vietnamese people to play at all casinos nationwide in the next 3-5 years to evaluate, summarize and perfect regulations to manage this business activity.

In the past, because we did not have a professional agency, the management of casino business activities was quite loose.

"Therefore, although it is considered a money-making business, many casinos have reported losses in recent years. To effectively manage casino business activities, the Ministry of Finance needs to establish a professional agency with experts in controlling income, collecting taxes and fees, controlling crime, and money laundering through casinos," said Mr. Vinh.

Regarding this issue, according to Dr. Dinh Xuan Thao, playing cards, gambling and betting games are human needs, so when the Government has licensed dozens of large and small casinos across the country, adding regulations allowing Vietnamese people to play is inevitable.

"Because we ban it, those who need it still find ways to get tickets to play, so we need to make it public for people to play to manage and collect taxes. For example, playing virtual currency, digital currency, some countries do not ban it, but when players withdraw real money, they collect very high taxes, equivalent to 50% of the value of virtual currency.

Thus, both the State and the players benefit. This is an experience we should learn to manage services considered sensitive such as casino business and virtual currency.

In addition, to effectively monitor casino business, the tax sector needs to increase human resources to monitor business activities such as casinos, betting, football betting, and horse racing tracks to collect budget revenue more effectively," Mr. Thao analyzed.

Conditions for Vietnamese people to be allowed to play in casinos

According to the draft decree on casino business, the conditions for Vietnamese people to be allowed to enter casinos include:

21 years of age or older and have full civil capacity.

Must buy entrance tickets, initially applied at 2.5 million VND/24 consecutive hours (equivalent to 100 USD, 2.5 times the current rate) or 50 million VND/month (equivalent to 2,000 USD, 2 times the current rate).

Not subject to relatives or individuals who have submitted a request to the casino business not to allow playing at the casino business location.

Only Vietnamese currency can be used to exchange for conventional currency and conventional currency can be exchanged for Vietnamese currency in case of not playing all or winning.

Dr. LE XUAN NGHI (member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council):

Need to legalize with transparent regulations

Many countries license casino businesses with the aim of generating budget revenue in economically disadvantaged areas with low revenue.

For example, the United States chose to locate its casino business in Las Vegas in a desert or the state of Connecticut, an area full of Indians, because the source of income is almost nothing, so they placed magnificent casinos here to attract all the rich people who want to gamble to come here to play.

These casinos are generating huge revenues for the budget. In the US, gambling is gambling with the government, thereby generating huge revenues for the budget to carry out social security tasks in economically disadvantaged areas.

If we set the goal of developing the casino business like that, it is not necessary to only encourage foreigners to play but also create conditions for Vietnamese people to play. Of course, people who play in casinos must have full civil behavior and be strictly and closely monitored.

On the other hand, we should not restrict Vietnamese people from entering casinos because if we ban them, many people will find ways to gamble illegally. We need to legalize Vietnamese people to enter casinos with transparent regulations for easy management and supervision.

Sometimes, going to the casino is a pleasure for many people. I think that Vietnamese people should only be allowed to play at casinos that are large enough, operating as a resort-entertainment complex model, with an investment capital of billions of USD to encourage the development of the tourism industry. Because if too many casinos are allowed to let Vietnamese people play, they will compete with each other, and business efficiency will be low because the number of visitors is limited.

The difference is that in Vietnam, casinos are all in private hands, while in the US, casinos are managed and operated by the government, state and local governments, with the goal of increasing budget revenue to provide social security for underdeveloped areas.

Experience in organizing casinos for people in Singapore, Macau and the US

In Singapore

Casinos are only allowed to be located in integrated shopping, resort, dining and entertainment areas such as Marina Bay Sands or Resorts World Sentosa. According to Singapore Government regulations, Singapore citizens and permanent residents must have a valid admission ticket to enter these casino areas.

Current Singapore law stipulates that only people over 21 years of age are allowed to enter casinos. Additionally, purchased entrance tickets are strictly non-refundable and non-transferable under any circumstances. Residents are required to purchase an entrance ticket before entering the casino.

According to the official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Singapore, the Singapore Gambling Control Act (effective from 1 August 2022) stipulates that it is an offence for underage citizens to enter a gambling area, regardless of whether it is with a licensed or illegal bookmaker. However, this provision does not include open casinos that do not require entry checks.

Image inside a hotel-casino complex in Las Vegas (USA) - Photo: REuters

In Macau

The minimum age to enter a casino is 21, which applies to both locals and tourists. Those who deliberately enter a casino underage and the casino that allows them to enter will be punished according to the law, according to the Macau Tourism Authority.

At the end of 2023, the Macau government announced the "2024-2028 Economic Diversification Development Plan" based on the "1+4" model. In which, "1" refers to Macau's integrated tourism and entertainment industry, characterized by casino entertainment. "4" represents four emerging industries including financial services, health, MICE conferences and exhibitions, and cultural and sports events, according to Macau magazine.

In America

According to the gambling.com website, gambling is legal in the US but is not widely popular. The legal age to enter a casino will vary by state. Some states require people aged 18 to enter a few casinos such as California, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana... but most states require citizens to be 21 years old to enter a casino.

Each state in the US has its own agency responsible for licensing and supervising casinos. The US also requires casinos to report revenue, payout rates and comply with technical standards for slot machines. Winnings are subject to personal tax declaration and tax according to US Internal Revenue Service regulations.

To limit people from getting addicted to gambling, some states in the US such as New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois... provide voluntary and mandatory ban programs for casino players. Accordingly, individuals can register to ban themselves from all entertainment activities on the banned list, including participating in casinos.

BAO NGOC - KHANH QUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cho-nguoi-viet-vao-choi-casino-loi-du-duong-20250811075935631.htm