Royal International Corp.’s Gaming Club casino in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay reported a loss of VND127 billion (US$5.58 million) in 2017.
The only casino on the picturesque waterway in the north of the country, a UNESCO World Heritage site, blamed a drop in visitation from China and Taiwan for the loss, which was felt mainly on the gaming floor and was seven times greater than the previous year.
Revenues from all operations, including a hotel were down 37 percent from 2016 to VND194 billion ($8.53 million).
Gaming Club, one of Vietnam’s six foreigners-only casinos, opened in 2003 but has struggled for the better part of the last decade, reporting its first annual net loss in 2013.
In early 2017, the government partially lifted its long-time ban on casino gambling by its citizens, excepting two resort-scale casinos currently under construction: one on Phu Quoc island, a popular tourist destination in the far south, the other at the Van Don Special Economic Zone in the northern province of Quang Ninh, not far from Ha Long.
