A report in Inside Asian Gaming makes note of its “ironic” name: the Corona Resort and Casino in Phú Quốc Province, Vietnam. As the first casino in the country to permit locals to gamble, Corona actually attracted more visitation from foreign guests in the months prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Figures from Netherlands-based Upffinity Gaming Management indicate that the Corona Resort attracted a total of 105,200 visitors through 2019, around 300 daily, of which foreigners accounted for 55 percent of the total. That number had increased to 62 percent by December. Most of the foreign visitors hailed from Korea, mainland China, Malaysia and Russia.
In 2017, the Vietnamese government first announced that it would conduct a pilot program for up to three casinos to test locals play, starting from the opening date of the first authorized casino. Only the Corona Resort, which opened in January 2019 had opened when the virus of the same name shut it down.
Under the pilot program, Vietnamese citizens must be over 21 to enter and gamble at one of the three casinos in the pilot program. They must be able to show monthly income of VND10 million (US$431) and pay an entry tax of VND1 million for 24 hours of access.
