Van Don also approved
Government officials in Vietnam have OK’d a casino development inside a resort on the island of Phu Quoc as part of a three-year trial permitting Vietnamese into select casinos.
On November 22, VnExpress reported that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had approved in principle the inclusion of a casino in the resort as part of a VND50 trillion (US$2.14 billion) investment. The resort, which will also include hotels, shops and conference facilities, is set to be completed by 2021.
The casino in Kien Giang Province is a project of Phu Quoc Tourism Development and Investment JSC; the latter is controlled by Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, which owns 50 percent of the company.
The Vietnamese government first lifted the ban on locals gaming in March 2017, with certain conditions. Customers must be 21 or older and have a monthly income of at least VND10 million (US$445). Only casino resorts with a total capital investment of at least US$2 billion may serve Vietnamese gamblers.
In November 2017, government advisor Augustine Ha Ton Vinh told GGRAsia the government will likely open two casinos to locals to start, on Phu Quoc Island and in the Van Don Special Economic Zone near the Chinese border. There are currently fewer than 10 casinos in Vietnam, mostly border casinos located outside major metropolitan areas; none are currently open to locals.
