Vietnam to delay approval of casino lounges at international airports

Gaming industry observer and professor Augustine Ha Ton Vinh told Yogonet that PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc decided on December 30 to delay such projects meaning that only two casinos will be operating at the Van Don and the Phu Quoc areas with local Vietnamese allowed to gamble there.

Yogonet recently reported that the PM and his senior advisors visited the Van Don Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on December 22 to confirm his government support for the SEZ and to announce that the top country leadership has allowed local Vietnamese to enter the Van Don and Phu Quoc integrated resorts.

During that visit, the PM confirmed as well that his government will "soon" approve the long-awaited gaming decree which was first drafted seven years ago

“The Van Don IR is in the world-renowned Ha Long Bay, some 130 miles from Hanoi, the country’s capital city, and the second IR is on the beautiful Phu Quoc Island in the deep South,” Mr. Vinh explained by that time.

“The decree made it clear Vietnamese, 21 years of age, will be allowed, to enter these two designated resorts on a 3-year trial basis. In addition, the decree will confirm the addition of two new IR’s in central Vietnam,” the professor told Yogonet. 

*Augustine Ha Ton Vinh is a senior advisor to leading international gaming companies, with vast experience in Vietnam's political system and gaming regulations,