Trying to bring back players from Cambodia
The government of Vietnam is considering legislation that would allow locals to enter and play in the country’s casinos. But the draft decree, now awaiting approval by the Vietnamese prime minister, would not lower the country’s high gaming tax, according to the Asia Gaming Brief.
“At this time it’s almost impossible to lower the tax,” said Professor Augustine Ha Ton Vinh of Stellar Management, who spoke at the Macao Gaming Show.
By opening at some of the country’s casinos to locals, the government is trying to get its hands on the estimated $800 million in tax revenues lost each year from Vietnamese gamblers who cross the border to play. The bill would launch a three-year trial in which locals would be able to gamble in two designated resorts.
The bill would also trim the minimum investment in half, requiring operators to put up “only” $2 billion to build integrated resorts in the Southeast Asian country; an earlier version of the bill mandated at least a $4 billion investment. The plan would provide for 20-year licenses after developers spend half of the initial investment. The tax rate would be approximately 40 percent with an effective VIP rate of about 13.8 percent.
Despite the high rate, “Vietnam is a fantastic opportunity,” said Ben Lee, managing director of iGamingX Consulting, who also spoke on the panel. “It has the one thing Macau has that very few other countries have—not Japan, not Korea, not the Philippines—a common border with China. The mass market can literally walk across the border, and they do.”
Currently, Vietnam’s casinos are open only to holders of international passports. According to the Vietnam Investment Review, “hotels and resorts are all eagerly awaiting the government’s decree that will permit Vietnamese people aged 21 and over to gamble.”
