To operate an international football betting business, one must go through a bidding process.

According to a recently issued government decree, projects to operate international football betting will have to go through a bidding process to select investors.

Government Decree 23/2024 stipulates the cases in which bidding must be organized to select investors according to the Law on Bidding.

According to this Decree, investors must participate in a bidding process when wishing to conduct international football betting business in Vietnam. Similarly, investment projects for horse and dog racing tracks, including horse and dog racing betting operations, must also be subject to bidding if there are two or more interested investors.

This regulation is also stipulated in Decree 06 on the business of betting on dog racing, horse racing, and international football, issued in 2017. At that time, the State allowed one enterprise to pilot the business of betting on international football through bidding.

To date, no businesses have been granted pilot licenses to participate in this type of business. Last year, a representative of a computerized lottery company shared that in its development strategy until 2025, the company planned to launch international football betting in accordance with the law.

At the end of 2021, the Ministry of Finance sought opinions on amending Decree 06 with several new points, such as allowing betting on European national football leagues, and enabling players to purchase betting tickets online...

At that time, the Ministry of Finance also submitted to the Government amendments to two conditions for investors to participate in the bidding process. Firstly, investors must have a minimum investment capital of 1,000 billion VND, and the ownership ratio of all foreign investors must not exceed 50%. In addition, businesses must commit to contributing a minimum of 5% of their betting ticket sales revenue to the state budget in cash (excluding taxes).

However, this new Decree has not yet been issued. This is also a sticking point preventing the regulatory agency from selecting a pilot enterprise.

Every year, the police continuously uncover and prosecute illegal football betting rings worth trillions of dong for numerous matches in the world football tournament. Advertisements for betting websites with similar names such as FB88, Fi88, Bet88... are widely advertised online.

The revenue from the illegal football betting market in Vietnam is estimated to be in the tens of billions of USD, but the State has no control over the flow of money or the ability to collect taxes.

Previously, many foreign investors showed interest in doing international football betting business in Vietnam. Many countries around the world have already permitted this type of business.

Analysts believe that to attract investors in the betting sector, the government needs a strict and appropriate legal framework. This would create a demand for legal forms of entertainment for the public, rather than illegal ones. Conversely, the state budget would gain additional tax and fee revenue from betting businesses.

Phuong Dung

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