No business has been licensed to bet on horse racing or dog racing.

The Minister of Finance affirmed that up to now, no enterprise has been granted a license to conduct betting on horse racing and dog racing.

Ministry of Finance: No business has been licensed to bet on horse racing or dog racing

Illustration photo - Photo: NLĐ.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc has just sent a report to National Assembly deputies before the National Assembly Standing Committee's question-and-answer session on March 18, including the issue of betting on international football, horse racing, and dog racing.

Regarding regulations on horse and dog racing betting, the Ministry of Finance said that horse and dog racing betting businesses are only allowed to conduct betting business when they have investment projects with minimum investment scales of VND300 billion and VND1,000 billion, respectively. Each project must be approved by the Prime Minister on the investment policy based on the appraisal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in accordance with the provisions of the law on investment.

The Ministry of Finance shall coordinate with ministries and branches to issue betting business licenses after enterprises have completed investment in building racetracks and prepared facilities ready to serve betting business.

According to Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc, from 2017 to now, 7 provinces and cities including Hanoi, Phu Yen, Binh Duong, Vinh Phuc, Da Nang, Lam Dong, Ha Tinh have requested the Prime Minister to approve investment policies for horse and dog racing betting business investment projects.

The Prime Minister has approved the investment policy for a horse racing track investment project (with betting) in Soc Son district, Hanoi. However, this project has not yet been implemented due to problems with the capital contribution mechanism from the Vietnamese investor (Hanoi Tourism Corporation) and is under the jurisdiction of the Hanoi People's Committee; the remaining 6 projects are in the process of applying for investment policy approval.

“Therefore, up to now, no business has been granted a license to conduct betting on horse racing and dog racing,” the Minister of Finance informed.

In addition, there is a company that has been piloting dog racing betting business in the racetrack in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province since 1999, before Decree No. 06/2017/ND-CP was issued. By March 2023, the company had stopped betting business due to the expiration of the project's operating period.

International football betting still not available

Regarding international football betting, the Ministry of Finance said that according to the law, pilot enterprises for international football betting business must be selected through bidding.

The 2013 Law on Bidding does not have any provisions on bidding to select investors to implement business investment projects, so it is impossible to organize bidding to select an enterprise. Therefore, from 2017 to 2022, the Ministry of Finance has coordinated with ministries and branches to report to competent authorities 5 times on problems and develop a draft decree to replace Decree No. 06.

Based on the legal review, in March 2023, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Finance to complete the decree replacing Decree 06 after the Law on Bidding (amended) was issued.

The Ministry is currently finalizing to collect opinions from ministries and branches to amend Decree No. 06, which specifically stipulates the specific conditions for bidding to select investors in international football betting business to comply with new legal regulations on investment and bidding. The Ministry of Finance said that the bidding to select an investor in international football betting business is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Bidding and the decree on betting business.

According to VTV

Source