VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Finance’s draft decree on
the management over prize-electronic games services says casinos would be open
only to the individuals with foreign passports, though some other government
agencies suggested allowing Vietnamese high income earners to enter casinos as
well.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF),
the compiler of the draft decree, said the draft is now being considered by the
government, while the long awaiting legal document is likely to be promulgated
in 2012.
The draft decree gives the answer
to the most interested question if Vietnamese people are allowed to enter
casinos. For the last many years, Vietnam has been insisting on the principle
that Vietnamese citizens must not “gamble.”
However, some organizations have
recently pointed out that with the ban, the State budget has missed a big
source of income, because a lot of Vietnamese people have to go abroad to
gamble, suggesting to allow Vietnamese high income earners to go to casinos.
MOF has also admitted that in the
digital age and the open-market context, more and more people try to gamble via
Internet or go gambling abroad.
The Decision No. 32 of the Prime
Minister issued in 2003 stipulates that only foreigners or Vietnamese people
settling in foreign countries could go to casinos.
However, in fact, a lot of
business establishments, which could not attract foreign travelers to casinos,
have admitted Vietnamese people underhand. Therefore, the organizations believe
that it would be better to keep casinos open to Vietnamese, because this would
help stop the so called “foreign currency bleeding,” since Vietnamese bring
foreign currencies abroad to gamble.
However, MOF said it’s still
necessary to consider the issue more thoroughly and think of the management
methods to minimize the possible consequences, in case Vietnamese are allowed
to go to casinos.
MOF, in the draft decree, has
suggested maintaining the regulation that only the people with foreign
passports can become the players at casinos.
The draft decree clearly points
out that prize-electronic games service is a conditional type of business which
is not encouraged to develop in Vietnam. Therefore, the enterprises which do
this kind of business, would not receive any incentives in taxes or fees.
Regarding the places for setting
up casinos, the draft decree does not stipulate that casinos must be isolated
and located far away from big residential quarters or urban areas as previously
planned.
However, the document says that
only five-star (or equal ranking) accommodations for tourists would be licensed
to run casinos. Especially, casinos must be separated from other business areas
which have their own entrance, camera system, and must not provide food and
drink services.
The licensed casinos would be
allowed to provide most of the current popular kinds of gambles, such as
Bacarat, Blackjack, Roulette, PaiGow, Chinese dice, or slot machine. The kinds
of gambles enterprises can provide would be written down in the business
certificates, which would be valid for 10 years only.
Enterprises can also import
provisioning equipments that serve the games. However, the maximum import
volume could be just 10 percent higher than the number of registered tables.
The regulation aims to prevent enterprises from illegally expanding the
operation scale.
It is quite a surprise to many
people that the MOF keeps “flexible” when it does not set limitations on
posting ad pieces on mass media.
Regarding the punishment, MOF has
suggested the maximum fine of 100 million dong on violations. The fine proves
to be too small if compared with the casinos’ revenue of hundreds of billions
of dong every year. However, enterprises would also have the license revoked,
which would be the biggest threat to them.
Compiled by Kim Chi
Business & Investment Opportunities
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