Some operators circle back
Global gaming operators are getting in line—or back in line—to invest in Vietnam’s casino industry. They include MGM Resorts, which withdrew from a Ho Tram project in 2013 and the Genting Group, which left Vietnam in 2010. Other interested investors include the U.S.-based Las Vegas Sands Corp., Australia’s Crown Resorts, Singapore’s Banyan Tree and Macau’s Chow Tai Fook and Suncity.
According to the website Vietnam.net, the government is willing to open the door to locals to stem the loss of $800 million in revenues that domestic players reportedly spend in casinos outside the country—particularly in Cambodia, but also in Singapore and Macau—each year.
“They need tax revenues,” Alexandre Legendre, a Hanoi-based partner at Leadco Legal Counsel, told Bloomberg News. “The fiscal situation of the country is under pressure.”
The new plan calls for a handful of Vietnamese casinos to be open to locals for three years on a trial basis. The Institute for Sustainable Development of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences estimates that a $3 billion increase in foreign investment in the industry could mean a 0.58 percent increase in the country’s gross domestic product.
George Tanasijevich, managing director of global development for the Las Vegas Sands Corp., said in a statement that the company is “eager to proceed” with a project in Vietnam but suggested the three-year pilot program presents risks. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has long considered developing resorts in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd. and VinaCapital Investment Management Ltd. are funding a $4 billion project in Quang Nam Province, reported Bloomberg, and in January, Grand Ho Tram investor Phil Falcone, met with Prime Minister r Nguyen Xuan Phu in Hanoi.
