Other foreigners-only casinos see declines
The owners of the Royal International Casino & Hotel Halong in Vietnam’s Halong Bay section were big losers in the third quarter of 2017. According to the VN Express, revenue losses were up 23 times year-on-year to more than VND69 billion (US$3.04 million). A drop in Chinese visitors was blamed for the problem.
The company also posted a VND100 billion (US$4.4 million) loss in the first nine months, up four times from 2016, the company said.
The casino opened in 2003 and has been struggling since 2013. Of Vietnam’s six foreigners-only casinos, four are reporting losses, Express noted. That may be why the government has OK’d a three-year pilot program that will allow Vietnamese nationals to gamble at two casinos now under construction on the resort island of Phu Quoc and in the Van Don Special Economic Zone in Quang Ninh Province.
