Casino regulations tighten in Vietnam

As part of the latest attempts to aid the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in supervising the casinos’ operations, gaming establishments in Vietnam will be required to equip their venues with security features (e.g. specific camera systems). The ultimate goal of this series of measures will be to legalise casino activities for Vietnamese people.

The MoF’s Decree No 03 will take effect starting February 12, 2018, with the purpose of ensuring that casinos are run properly and winnings are reported regularly for tax collection purposes. Accordingly, eligible casinos in the country must follow the decree’s regulations on management of money, conventional currency and organisation.

The regulation stipulates that businesses are only allowed to exchange and return conventional currency at the cashier for players before they start playing. The management of foreign exchange for casino business activities shall comply with the guidance of the State Bank of Vietnam.

All transactions related to domestic, foreign and conventional currency must be monitored by computer software. The data from the software must be collected and put into revenue summaries. At the same time, any monetary transactions must be recorded and reported to the relevant State management agencies.

Furthermore, the MoF instructed casinos to arrange specialised containers to hold cash or conventional currency, which will then be sealed immediately after being removed from the game tables and before being taken out of their vault.

Casino businesses shall declare and pay taxes in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration, the Law on Value Added Tax, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, the Law on Corporate Income Tax and other sub-law documents guiding the implementation thereof.