Is Hard Rock a venture partner?
Singapore-based resort developer Banyan Tree Holdings has won critical support in its campaign to develop a casino in Vietnam. According to Vietnam Net Bridge, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung has come out in support of Banyan Tree’s proposed casino project, which would be located in the developer’s Laguna Lang Co integrated resort complex in the province of Thua Thien-Hue.
According to news wire reports, Banyan Tree’s partner in the project may be Hard Rock International. The newspaper Ming Pao quoted Daniel Cheng, Hard Rock’s vice president for Asian business development, who reportedly said the partners were considering a $100 million investment in Vietnam and a casino with up to 80 gaming tables and 500 slots.
The resort already has 500 rooms and a championship golf course. In a news release last year, the developer hinted that it would choose a gaming operator early this year, “to coincide with the convening of the National Assembly … and subsequent discussions about how to proceed with gaming and tourism development, and the creation of a more robust regulatory regime and gaming licensing policy.”
Vietnam has had seven small-scale casinos and about 50 electronic betting shops, all of which serve foreigners only. The biggest gaming hall is the Grand Ho Tram Strip in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
Another project in the works is the $4 billion South Hoi An integrated casino resort in Quang Nam, a project of asset management firm VinaCapital and Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd. The project is set to break ground in the second quarter of 2016, with the first phase to be completed in early 2019.
