Editor
There may be a new $2 billion casino coming to Vietnam soon, pending the approval of Prime Minister Pham Minh Ching.
The Ministry of Finance has submitted a proposal seeking approval for an investment in a luxury tourism and services complex, which will include a casino.
The Van Don Casino project aims to construct a casino in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh. The investment will be $2 billion and take up 244 hectares.
There are currently eight casinos within Vietnam, but they are only open for gambling if a person has a foreign passport. Vietnamese citizens are not permitted to gamble at them. But that may be changing as the ministry has proposed a pilot scheme to allow Vietnamese citizens to participate in gambling and allow them to play games such as video poker at the new Van Don Casino. The Prime Minister would also need to approve this measure.
Local authorities in Quang Ninh want the casino as they believe the project will serve as a powerful driver of growth for the Vân Đồn special administrative zone. They hope for it to increase state budget revenues and generate a profit.
This proposal aligns with the recent push in the region to expand the number of casinos, as the nearby Southeast Asian country of Thailand has been debating a casino bill within its senate. Unlike Vietnam, Thailand does not currently have any casinos, so in their case it would be a milestone bill.
