Will resort permit locals?
A committee weighing casino license bids for a city in northern Vietnam says major companies including the Las Vegas Sands Corp. may be in the running to develop the resort.
Others reportedly interested in the resort at Quang Ninh include Casinos Austria; Phoenix Macau Tailoi; Dao Hong Tuyen‘s Tuan Chau Group; and Sun Group. The decision on developers is expected next month.
“We haven’t decided who will be the investors in those projects,” Nguyen Van Doc, chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee told the Vietnam Investment Review. “But whoever is chosen will have to start construction in April.”
According to GGRAsia, the Vietnamese government is considering a decree that may allow locals to enter casinos under certain conditions. Local entrants may have to pass an income test or pay an entry fee. Allowing locals to play is likely to boost the interest of foreign investors, according to reports.
In January, Vietnam’s Prime Minister approved plans for the construction of a casino at Phu Quoc Island, in the southern province of Kiên Giang. The government wants to prevent gamblers from crossing the border into Cambodia to play. For years reports have circulated about hapless Vietnamese gamblers who encounter loan sharks and kidnapers along the Cambodian border.
The Van Don airport project, reportedly to be developed by the homegrown Sun Group, is expected to break ground in early 2016, said Pham Minh Chinh, secretary of the Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee, at a recent press conference. An international portal would go a long way toward boosting tourism and development throughout the province, home of the Halong Bay World Heritage Site.
