The provincial government of Kien Gang, Vietnam will ask the country’s Ministry of Finance to extend a pilot program that lets locals gamble at the Corona Resort and Casino in Phu Quoc, reports the Vietnam News Agency.
Local lawmakers hope for a three-year extension, to January 7, 2025, and the government may be amenable. In March, the ministry reportedly was considering an extension at several casino resorts across the nation due to pandemic-related disruptions of domestic and international tourism.
The pilot program was first decreed in 2017, but didn’t begin until 2019.
According to the VNA, citing the provincial government, since the Corona Resort and Casino opened in January 2019, it has created jobs for 1,122 Vietnamese and 32 foreigners; attracted 240,560 visitors, including 156,533 Vietnamese; and paid VND1.7 trillion (US$72.3 million) in local taxes.
In early September, Vietjet Air launched non-stop service from Mumbai, India, to Phu Quoc as part of Vietnam’s efforts to bring back inbound tourism.
