Hard Rock the likely suitor
Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment is urging Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to back a proposed casino at the Laguna Lăng Cô beach resort, reports the Vietnam Investment Review.
The ministry also is looking for an increase in the capital budget for Laguna Lăng Cô, in Thua Thien Hue Province, from US$175 million to US$300 million, with a total investment of up to US$2 billion. That would align with the 2017 government decree requiring a minimum US$2 billion investment by operators who want to participate in a three-year trial of locals gambling.
U.S.-based hospitality giant Hard Rock International has confirmed its interest in developing a casino at the resort. Last summer Daniel Cheng, Hard Rock’s senior vice president for casino business development in Asia, told GGRAsia the company had “finished all the site studies and completed all project financing.”
The Laguna project first opened in April 2013 with a 57-villa Banyan Tree resort, a 229-room Angsana resort and an 18-hole golf course.
